


Between Life and Being Alive

by withabigbang (girlattherockshow)



Category: The Big Bang Theory (TV)
Genre: Angst, Cancer, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Hurt/Comfort, Leonard isn't a bad boyfriend, Mentions of Cancer, Penny has a last name, Sheldon Cooper has a heart, Sheldon is a good caretaker, Soft Kitty
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:00:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 29,369
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25624015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/girlattherockshow/pseuds/withabigbang
Summary: Just after Leonard goes off on a months-long research project overseas, Penny gets an unthinkable, terrifying diagnosis. Uninsured and broke, she has no idea how she's going to live with this illness -- or how to deal with possibly dying from it. Sheldon steps in to help, with a solution that could literally be a lifesaver, at least until Leonard is home. However, this proposal of pragmatism soon reveals feelings that neither of them are ready to deal with, especially when this is a matter of life or death. But there's a difference between "life" and "being alive," and the question is, can they find a way to have both?
Relationships: Bernadette Rostenkowski/Howard Wolowitz, Leonard Hofstadter/Penny, Sheldon Cooper & Penny, Sheldon Cooper/Amy Farrah Fowler, Sheldon Cooper/Penny
Comments: 76
Kudos: 194





	1. Blissful Ignorance

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Barba_got_back](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Barba_got_back).



> Hello!
> 
> So, you want to know how a Marvel and SVU fanfiction writer landed in the world of TBBT fandom? Let me tell you a story (no pun intended).
> 
> I hadn't seen TBBT in years, but then HBO Max came along, and I binge watched the series twice in two weeks. I started reading fic, too, and I stumbled into the lovely world of Shenny shippers. There were two stories that made me absolutely sob (The Pon Farr Hypothesis by Zenkindoflove and Pandora's Box by lizwontcry are amazing and if you have not read them, get thee to it), and they inspired me so much that I wanted to start my own story. The idea has been floating around my head for some time now, and I finally sat down and plotted it out last night.
> 
> Usually, my chapters are much longer than this first one, but I wanted to throw it out and see if there's any interest at all in a story like this. If you're interested to see where it goes, please leave kudos or, even better, comments - if there's interest, I'll keep writing, and you'll definitely end up with ridiculously long chapters.
> 
> This is set to begin in January 2014. Bernadette and Howard are dating, Amy and Sheldon are dating, Penny and Leonard are dating, everyone is happy (except Raj, of course, because Raj never gets to have nice things - although hey, you never know...). Amy is definitely "later-seasons" Amy, though, not "shy/awkward/scared of losing Sheldon" Amy. And Bernadette is NOT going to be the shrew they made her into. I'm playing fix-it with this story, lol.
> 
> For now, I thank those two amazing authors above, plus my dear friend Leslye (to whom this work is dedicated) for the inspiration. I hope y'all enjoy!
> 
> ***  
> Playlist is here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0GG8S8kfhiQCYOz7if2oKr?si=d9kkYUXjRTikI7oxZdubkw
> 
> Song: "Girl in L.A." by Us The Duo

“What do you mean, you’re going to be gone for nine months?!” 

Penny always knew Leonard would put his career before his relationship, but she hadn’t thought he would ever agree to go on an extended trip to the United Kingdom without even talking to her. But that, it seemed, was exactly what he did.

“Penny, come on,” Leonard said. “Please don’t be mad.”

She pulled a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc out of the fridge and briefly debated just drinking straight from it before electing to grab a wine glass. She didn’t bother getting one out for Leonard. If he wanted wine, he could get it himself. 

“Leonard, did you even stop to think that maybe, just maybe, you should have discussed this with me first?” 

“Well...” He trailed off, and Penny exploded.

“Oh my God. We have been dating over a year now. I know it’s your career, but it affects _my_ life too,” she huffed, and took a seat on the couch, unwilling to look at him.

He sat down next to her and leaned forward, trying to catch her eyes. “Okay. You’re right. I should have talked to you first. I guess I was just so excited to be asked to do research with the most brilliant physicist in the world that I said yes on impulse.”

It took her a minute, but she finally set her wine down and turned toward him. “I know,” she sighed. “Like I said, I know it’s your career. And I want you to go. I mean, I don’t want you to go, but I want you to have this experience. When are you leaving?”

“In three days,” he said sheepishly.

“Leonard!” she gasped. “What the hell?”

“I know it’s short notice,” he sputtered, “but one of the scientists scheduled to go had to drop out, and I literally only got the call today. You’re the first person I’ve told.”

“You haven’t told the guys yet?”

“Okay, well, technically Wolowitz knew before you, but that’s just because I got the call when he was in my lab. I swore him to secrecy, though.” She eyed him suspiciously, but Leonard could tell that her resolve was breaking. It was the same look she gave him when he’d asked her out for the tenth time. He took one of her hands and cupped it between his own. “I wish I could bring you with me,” he added.

“I do too,” she said. “I mean, there are tons of hot British guys I could go fall in love with while you’re working.” She pursed her lips and made her I’m-totally-kidding face, because she knew he might actually take her seriously otherwise. 

Instead, he laughed. “Very funny. Listen, I know it sounds like an eternity, but I’ll be back before you know it. And I’ll bring you a souvenir. Anything you want.” 

She looked up at the ceiling, pretending to contemplate his idea. “Hmm,” she said thoughtfully. “How about you just pick up a British accent while you’re there?” She leaned in and gave him one of her Big Ol’ Five kisses, the kind that sent flames right down his spine and into his groin.

“But if I do that,” he said, when she pulled away, “how do you know other girls won’t try to steal me away?”

She was about to answer him when the arrival of a subtle Texas accent cut her off.

 _Knock knock knock._ ”Leonard!” 

_Knock knock knock._ ”Leonard!” 

_Knock knock knock._ ”Leonard!” 

She raised an eyebrow as she got to her feet. “Sweetie, I hate to tell you this,” she said over her shoulder, “but it doesn’t matter what accent you have; the second any girl meets what’s on the other side of this door, you may as well sound like Elmer Fudd.”

The second she opened the door, Leonard’s roommate barreled into her living room and stared at Leonard, a mixture of annoyance and shock on his face. For all the jokes everyone made about his being a robot, Sheldon Cooper had no problem expressing disdain, anger, petulance, and any number of other emotions—usually when he was directing them at someone else.

“Hello to you too,” she muttered.

“How could you do this to me?” Sheldon asked, and the sound of his voice reflected the look on his face.

Leonard took off his glasses and rubbed his face with both hands. “Funny, I ask myself that exact question every single day...” he mumbled. “How did you even find out?”

Sheldon breezed by the sarcasm, although Penny wasn’t sure if it was because he didn’t recognize it or because he didn’t care about it. “As it turns out, Wolowitz is a better friend to me than you are!” he shot back. “How could you agree to go to the United Kingdom with Professor Stephen Hawking for nine months without even talking to me? I know it’s your career, but it affects _my_ life more than yours!”

Penny could see that this was going to take a minute, so she picked her wine back up and went to the bedroom. She sort of knew how this would play out: Sheldon would act like Leonard did this to hurt him, Leonard would roll his eyes and try to reason with the unreasonable, Sheldon would storm out, and Penny would end up having to play peacekeeper. Ever since she’d met Leonard, Sheldon, and their friends Raj Koothrappali and Howard Wolowitz, she’d become the unofficial Sheldon Wrangler. Somehow, she was the only person capable of calming him down. Even his girlfriend Amy wasn’t able to do it quite as well as Penny, although Penny wished she would learn; as much as she cared about Sheldon, being his keeper was exhausting sometimes. 

After she listened to a few more minutes of the two men bickering in her living room, she decided to take a quick shower. She had gotten home from work only a few minutes before Leonard had come to share his news with her, so she still had the smell of cheesecake and grease in her hair. She poked her head out of the room. Leonard had gotten off the couch and was now pouring himself a glass of wine.

“Guys,” she called, “I’m just gonna take a shower real quick—”

“I don’t know why he didn’t invite you!”

“Perhaps he’s taken on a new charity project: throwing bones to subpar experimental physicists to pump up their curriculum vitae.”

“Ugh, I’m going to kill Wolowitz...”

“Ooookay,” she muttered, closing her bedroom door behind her as she started removing articles of clothing, dropping them one by one on the floor in a trail to the bathroom. 

A few minutes later, she was standing under the spray of the shower, washing the day out of her long, blonde hair. She hadn’t shampooed in a couple days, so she took extra time, making sure to scrub down to her scalp. After the water ran clear of suds, she added some conditioner, and then set to work on the rest of her body. Although was only in her late twenties, her body felt like it belonged to a woman three times her age. For all the ribbing the guys gave her for her waitressing job, they had no idea how difficult it was physically—burns from plates hotter than they should have been, bruises from accidentally walking into tables that had been moved by patrons, cuts from slicing limes at the bar, and, of course, the general aches and pains from her back down into her legs from being on her feet. And, considering she didn’t even have the benefit of health insurance, it sometimes didn’t seem worth it.

The scent of her lavender body wash started to relax her into a state where she didn’t feel so upset with Leonard about making this choice without her; where she wasn’t annoyed with Sheldon for bursting into her apartment to confront Leonard as if it affected him more than it did her; where she could pretend that this was all a movie scene and when she got out of the shower, life would be back to normal. Leonard wouldn’t be leaving, she would go beat Sheldon at Halo like she did every Wednesday night, and—

“What the hell?” 

She had, of course, been taught how to do self-examinations of her breasts, back before Nebraska schools stopped caring so much about sex education. She never really knew what she was looking for, though, and besides, enough men had felt her up over the years that she figured if there were anything to be concerned about, one of them would have mentioned it. 

But when she took a second swipe of her hand over her left breast, she finally understood what she was supposed to have been looking for every month. There, underneath her armpit, was an oddly-shaped, firm bump, about the size of a silver dollar. It didn’t hurt, but it certainly didn’t feel like something that should have been there.

She didn’t know how long she stood there feeling the lump from every direction, but it must have been quite some time, because Leonard eventually poked his head in through the bathroom door.

“Penny?” he called. “You okay?”

She snapped back to attention. “Oh, yeah, sorry. I’ll be out in a minute.”

“Okay. Sheldon’s gone. I finally managed to get him out of the apartment by promising him that I’d take his new paper with me to give to Hawking. Too bad I didn’t promise him I’d actually give it to Hawking.”

Penny gave him a perfunctory laugh, just to get him out of the bathroom. When she heard him close the door, she rinsed her hair and turned off the water. The mirror was too fogged for her to examine her breasts in it, but she wondered if it would have been visible anyway; clearly she hadn’t noticed it before. Besides, there was no history of breast cancer in her family, and there were all sorts of explanations for a lump. Her mom had a scare a few years ago that turned out to be a benign cyst. Or perhaps her bras were too tight and caused damage somehow. Whatever the case, she couldn’t do anything about it for the moment. She would just have to remember to call for an appointment at the women’s clinic in Los Angeles. 

By the time she came out of the bedroom, pulling an oversized sweatshirt over her damp hair, Leonard was just setting the pizzas he’d ordered on the counter. “Hey,” she said. “Sorry about that.”

He shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. I’d have escaped to the shower with you, but I feel like Sheldon probably would have followed me in there to keep yelling at me.”

“Don’t worry. In half an hour, he’ll be so mad when I whoop his ass at Halo that he’ll forget he’s even upset with you.”

Leonard walked over and wrapped his arms around her waist. “I really am sorry that I didn’t talk to you first. Are _you_ still upset with me?”

Penny stiffened with the realization that she had to keep Leonard away from her breasts for the next three days. As annoyed as she had been at him for deciding to go on this trip, now she was glad he was leaving. If he knew what was going on, he’d make a huge deal out of it and drive her crazy until she saw the doctor. 

“No,” she said, giving him a quick kiss before breaking away to grab the pizza. “I’ll even help you pack, Dr. Hofstadter.”


	2. Drown It Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised, a second chapter. This one still isn't as long as I'll usually make them, but I'm about to move and study for the bar exam, so I wanted to get you one more before I start doing all of that. Please forgive me if this is a bit weird; I wrote a lot of it while on narcotics after surgery. Thank you SO much for replying to my last chapter and expressing so much interest! I hope I can live up to expectations. :) Comments and kudos always welcome and appreciated.
> 
> ***  
> Playlist is here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0GG8S8kfhiQCYOz7if2oKr?si=d9kkYUXjRTikI7oxZdubkw
> 
> Song: "Everything is Fine" by All Time Low

“Sheldon, what kind of tea do you want?” Amy asked, setting the kettle of boiling water on the counter.

He glanced up from his spot on the couch, still stewing over Leonard’s insensitivity. “Why are you making me tea? As the host, it falls to me to make you, the guest, a hot beverage.”

Amy got out the box of teabags, which had been sorted by flavor and the time of day for which they were appropriate. “You’re my boyfriend, and you’re upset. Besides, it’s in the Relationship Agreement that I console you with a hot beverage when you have any argument with someone covered by the Roommate Agreement.”

He sighed. “Well, since it’s in the Agreement...”

“Good. Now, do you want chamomile or peppermint?”

“Peppermint is for gastrointestinal distress. Leonard uses that far more than I do.”

“Okay...then chamomile it is.”

He rolled his eyes. “Now, wait. Chamomile might make me sleepy, and it’s Halo night—the only night of the week I’m allowed to stay up past my bedtime. Oh, why is my life so complicated?”

Amy didn’t even know why Sheldon was so upset with Leonard, but she _did_ know it was going to be a long night unless he calmed down before everyone else got there. Generally, the guys and Penny would play one round together, until Penny inevitably blew Sheldon up, at which point the women would head over to Penny’s apartment for girls’ night. They would usually be halfway through their second bottle of wine by the time the guys had either exhausted themselves or one of them threatened to blow Sheldon up for real. If Leonard already wanted to do that, then no one was going to have an enjoyable evening.

She dropped the chamomile tea bag into the mug and poured water over it, hoping he would be too distracted to notice that she had made his decision for him. “Sheldon, if you don’t tell me the problem, I can’t help you find a solution,” she said, handing him his mug.

He let out a heavy sigh. “I suppose you do need all the variables.” They went back into the living room and sat down on the couch. He set his mug down and folded his hands in his lap. “Today, Leonard was asked to join Dr. Stephen Hawking on an almost yearlong research project in England.”

He stopped there and Amy hesitated, trying to discern whether he had more to add. Sometimes she would respond too quickly, and he would get annoyed with her for missing his point. But he didn’t say anything else, so she asked, “And youre upset because he was asked, or because you weren’t?”

“Yes.”

“That wasn’t a yes or no question.”

“It is if both proposals are true.”

She furrowed her brow. “Well, Sheldon, perhaps the reason Leonard was asked has to do with his being an experimental physicist.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, if he’s going with Professor Hawking, they probably need an experimental physicist. They already have the most brilliant theoretical physicist in the world.”

Sheldon considered this. There weren’t many minds he considered equal to or better than his own, but Hawking was certainly on that short list. “I suppose that’s true. And besides, it probably isn’t wise to have all the most brilliant minds in one place.”

It was at that moment that the door swung open and Penny strode in carrying two bottles of wine, while Leonard trailed behind her carrying the pizzas. “All right, Sheldon, the pizza’s getting cold, so here’s what’s gonna happen,” she announced. “You’re going to forget about being mad at Leonard, stop obsessing about this trip, and enjoy the evening.”

Sheldon looked past her at Leonard. “Fine.”

Leonard didn’t react. He was waiting for some sort of snarky follow-up. But all that happened was Sheldon getting up to wash his hands before dinner.

Penny turned to Amy. “That seemed too easy.”

Amy leaned toward her and whispered conspiratorially. “I primed him for ya.”

“Been taking notes, I see.”

Amy shrugged. “I am a scientist. I would be remiss not to make notes on my observations.”

“Well thank God,” Penny replied. “I didn’t really have the energy to argue with him tonight.”

“Everything okay, Bestie?” Amy asked, her face lined with concern. “Bad day at the restaurant?”

“Hm, well, let’s see,” Penny said, and looked over her shoulder. “Leonard, was I at work today?”

“Yep,” he said.

She turned back to Amy. “Yes. Want some wine?”

“Are the guys going to play dumb video games while you, me, and Bernadette sit across the hall getting intoxicated?”

“Yes.”

“Hit me,” Amy said, and Penny uncorked the bottle.

After Howard, Bernadette, and Raj showed up, everyone took their customary seats around the coffee table and dug into the pizza. As they ate, Howard started telling them about his new government project. “So, in a few weeks, NASA is sending me to Houston to train some of the astronauts on how to repair the Mars rover. I’m hoping what they really want is to send me to space. Hopefully someday—”

“Oh, Howard, come now,” Sheldon said. “Do you actually think NASA will ever ask you to go into space? They have had Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, John Glenn...”

“And what makes you think I couldn’t be on that list?”

Sheldon took a bite of pizza and gave a sideways glance at Howard. “Well, for starters, they were all veterans of the military. They were men of extraordinary bravery!”

“Howard’s just as brave as any astronaut!” Bernadette exclaimed, and to Sheldon, her high-pitched voice was like nails on a chalkboard. “It’s not his fault that his transient idiopathic arrhythmia, nut allergy, and flat feet preclude him from military service.”

“Yeah,” Raj added. “Plus, his mom said he wasn’t allowed.”

Howard glowered at his best friend and his girlfriend. “Thanks for that,” he muttered.

“No problem,” Raj replied, smirking.

Meanwhile, Leonard checked his watch. “Okay, are we going to sit around making fun of Howard all night—and believe me, we could—or are we going to play?”

“Oh, please, let’s play,” Howard said with eagerness and relief. “It’s time for Sheldon to be humiliated for a while.”

He expected Penny to make some sort of remark about how Sheldon was about to get his ass—or, more appropriately, his head—handed to him, but she was staring absently at the leftover crust on her plate, picking at it just a bit.

“Penny?” Leonard reached over to her chair and poked her leg. “Penny, you okay?”

She seemed to come out of a daze. It took half a second longer than she would have liked, but she cast a smile in his direction. “Yeah. Sorry. What?”

Amy and Bernadette shot each other a look of uneasy concern.

“Are you ready to make Sheldon cry?” Raj asked, as Sheldon aimed a glare in his direction.

“Sure,” she said, as brightly as she could. Thankfully, the boys weren’t observant enough to notice the difference between real and faux excitement.

“Penny, do you mind if Amy and I head over to your place until you’re done?” Bernadette asked, hoping Amy would follow her lead.

“Sure,” Penny replied. “Door’s unlocked. I’ll be over soon.”

Bernadette signaled to Amy to come with her. Amy grabbed the bottle of wine and followed her out, while the guys argued over who got to have Penny on their team and who had to sit out the round.

“So...that was weird, huh?” Bernadette said, as soon as Amy closed the door to Penny’s apartment.

“Which part? The part where Penny didn’t taunt Sheldon at all before they started dividing into teams, or the part where she hasn’t finished her first glass of wine?”

Bernadette’s eyes widened. “Really? I didn’t even notice that second part. Now I _know_ something is going on. Did she say anything to you about her day?”

Amy sat down at one of the chairs at the kitchen counter. “Just the usual. But now that you mention it, she did seem a little more tense than usual.”

“You think she had a fight with Leonard?”

Amy adjusted her glasses. “I don’t think so. If she had, I doubt she would still be there.”

“That’s true.” Bernadette looked at the door, then back at Amy. “Do you think we should ask her, or will that just make her angry?”

“I’m not sure. You know Penny isn’t exactly an open book. Even if something is wrong, she isn’t going to say anything until she’s good and ready.”

Bernadette sighed in resignation. “You’re probably right. On a different note, how are things going with Sheldon?”

“Oh, well, you know. I’ve managed to kiss him drunkenly once, hold his hand while at the movies, and become his emergency contact for hospital visits.” She sipped her drink and added, “So, you know, progress.”

“Yeah, I finally got Howie to make me his emergency contact in place of his mother,” Bernadette laughed.

Amy noticed the slightly forced smile on her friend’s face. “You regretting it too?”

“Oh, so much.”

“Well,” Amy said, refilling both of their wine glasses, “to hypochondriacs.”

Bernadette raised her glass and clinked it against Amy’s. “And the women who love them.”

* * *

“Penny! Are you going to cover me or not?!” Howard yelled, smashing buttons on his controller. “I’m about to launch this grenade, but I need cover or—”

Suddenly, Sheldon’s character opened fire on Howard’s, blowing him up from behind. “Ha!” he cried, clearly satisfied with himself. “Serves you right for trying to take me out without backup!”

“Sorry, Howard,” Penny replied, as he shot daggers between her and Sheldon. “I was on my way.”

“Well, fat lot of good that did me,” he said. “What’s with you tonight?”

“Yeah, you haven’t blown Sheldon up once,” Leonard said.

“That’s half of what makes Halo night worth showing up for,” Raj added.

She battled a frown. “I know, I’m sorry. I think I’m just tired.”

Sheldon didn’t care why Penny was playing so poorly. All he cared about was that for the first time in three years, she hadn’t totally humiliated him at his favorite first-person shooter game.

Howard gaped in astonishment. “Tired? I’ve seen you blow Sheldon away while three glasses of wine deep. What—”

Penny tossed the controller onto the coffee table and stood up, trying to suppress the urge to punch Howard in his nose for a second time. “You know what, Howard? Some of us had to work all day, as opposed to whatever the hell it is _you_ do!” The room got quiet and she watched his face fall. Ordinarily, she might have felt badly, but given the day she had, she regretted nothing.

Sheldon, for his part, wore a satisfied grin. “Penny is correct. I, for one, spent my afternoon working on a proposal to the National Science Foundation to obtain funding to research slow-moving monopoles at the magnetic North Pole. It was utterly exhausting.”

Penny rounded on him. “I was talking about _me,_ Sheldon!”

Sheldon was slightly taken aback. Penny often got irritated with him, sometimes even so far as upset, but it was a rare occasion that she shouted at him. Before he could respond, the door was already slamming behind her.

She barely made it to her apartment door before she had a text, which she assumed was from Leonard. She didn’t bother checking it, and when she opened the door, she found Bernadette and Amy sitting on her couch. A half-empty bottle sat on the table in front of them, and they both jerked their heads upward as she entered.

Even if they hadn’t both been scientists, Amy and Bernadette would have had no trouble recognizing Penny’s frustration. Her collarbone and cheeks were stained with a flush, her eyes darkened with exasperation.

“Penny?” Amy said, keeping her voice soft. “Everything okay?”

Penny ran her hands through her still-damp hair and headed immediately for her kitchen—she’d realized too late that she left her wine glass on the table in Leonard’s apartment, but wasn’t about to go back in there to get it. As she grabbed a glass, her phone buzzed a second time. Again, she ignored it.

“I’m fine.” She grabbed the bottle off of the coffee table and pouring what she referred to as a venti glass of wine. “It’s just...”

“Just what?” Amy asked. “Did something happen? Is Sheldon being a sore loser again?”

“You’d think he’d be used to it by now,” Bernadette replied.

“Are you kidding? He’s still mad that Penny and I won Pictionary against him and Leonard, and that was _last year_ ,” Amy said, almost as if she herself couldn’t believe what she was saying.

Penny shook her head. “Actually, he and Leonard beat me and Howard.”

Amy nodded knowingly. “Ohhh. He was being a sore _winner_.”

Bernadette rolled her eyes in disgust. “The only thing worse than having to hear Howard brag about beating Sheldon is listening to him complain when he _loses_ to Sheldon.”

“How do you think _I_ feel?” Amy scoffed.

From there, the conversation devolved to Bernadette and Amy arguing over whose boyfriend was more insufferable. Ordinarily, Penny might have been annoyed, but this time, it provided an easy escape from their questions. While they bickered, she made for her bathroom. After shutting the door, she set her wine glass on the top of the toilet and splashed cold water on her face.

She stared at her reflection and realized that as irritated as she had been with Howard and Sheldon, the reality was that she was mostly upset with herself. She couldn’t believe she’d lost that game. She never allowed her personal problems to interfere with her competitive nature. On the contrary, Halo night was like therapy; it was one of the things that allowed her to forget whatever was bothering her. She would channel her frustration into the game and pretend she was a badass warrior queen for a while. But that night, she simply couldn’t conjure the necessary enthusiasm. What was worse, she looked as tired as she felt, despite having had dinner and a hot shower.

Then, it occurred to her that the steam that had kept her from seeing what she had only felt was no longer an issue. She considered, for a moment, taking her shirt off and investigating what lay underneath. The only problem now was that she wasn’t sure she wanted to find out.

A rapping at the door almost made her knock her wine glass over. Amy’s husky voice was slightly muffled. “I feel like all I’ve done tonight is ask if you’re okay, but...are you okay?”

Penny gritted her teeth. “Just a second.” She heard Amy walk away and rubbed the back of her neck. She knew if she didn’t start acting like her normal, sardonic-yet-upbeat self again, Amy wouldn’t be the only one asking if she was okay. And then, the buzz of her phone reminded her that she already had that problem. _Pull it together, Penny..._

She removed her phone from her back pocket and checked her text messages. Unsurprisingly, two of them were from Leonard, apologizing for Sheldon, Howard, and Raj’s insensitivity and asking her whether she wanted to come back over later. She elected to ignore them. The most recent message, however, was confusing, unexpected, and slightly bizarre:

_It was not my intention to offend you. Howard, yes. You, no._

It was as close to an apology as Dr. Whackadoo would ever get. And there was something almost endearing about it, even though he also took another shot at Howard at the same time. _Actually,_ she thought, _that makes it even better._

She knew if she didn’t reappear in the living room soon, Amy and Bernadette would break down the door, thinking she had hung herself from the shower rod or something. So, she typed out a quick reply.

_It’s okay. Life goes on. :)_

She was heading back into the living room when she got a reply.

_Of course it does. At least, for right now. Despite your belief in psychics, there is no way to predict the future._

She should have just rolled her eyes, but she felt a chill run through her—because Sheldon’s words were more accurate than he knew, and truer than she cared to admit.


	3. Perfectly Fine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I know I said that this would be a longer chapter, but I felt like I came to a good stopping place, even though it's shorter than I'd have liked. I wanted to give some insight into Penny and Leonard's complicated relationship. I kind of wanted to make clear that Penny and Leonard really do love one another. Their relationship isn't wrong or bad; it's just complex. I hope I've achieved that here. This chapter is just the two of them in their relationship. After this, Leonard disappears for a bit and it's back to business as usual for the Shenny shippers among us. 
> 
> Also, thank you guys SO much for the continued love, support, comments (!!!), and kudos on this story. Every time I get a notification from AO3 about a new comment or new kudos, I flail inside. :) 
> 
> ***  
> Playlist is here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0GG8S8kfhiQCYOz7if2oKr?si=d9kkYUXjRTikI7oxZdubkw
> 
> Song: "Between the Lines" by Sara Bareilles

Leonard was a nervous wreck.

Ever since he’d read _A Brief History of Time_ in fifth grade, he had dreamed of meeting Professor Stephen Hawking, but he never thought it would really happen. And now, he was less than twenty-four hours away from getting on a plane headed toward England, where he would not only meet his professional idol but would work alongside him for the better part of a year. It was literally the most exciting thing that had ever happened to him, but it was also the most stressful. He’d had so little notice that he had to cram three weeks of preparation into three days. Between buying plane tickets, packing for nine months on a different continent, handing off his administrative duties at his lab, wrapping up his open projects, and coordinating with Professor Hawking’s people to arrange housing, he’d barely had time to sleep, much less spend time with Penny. But this would be their last night together until he came home, and he wanted to make it special. So, he spent the afternoon in her apartment while she was at work, putting together an evening to remember.

It was just past nine when she entered the apartment building, and, as usual after a long shift, she cursed the elevator. As she trudged up the stairs, she started to realize how little time she and Leonard had spent together in the last few days. She supposed she should have felt more upset about it; after all, he was going to be gone for almost a year. As his girlfriend, she should have been depressed about that. But truth be told, she felt relief. Since he had been so busy, she hadn’t had to try so hard to keep Leonard from finding out her secret. The problem was, since he was leaving the next day, he would understandably be expecting sex. She had racked her brain trying to figure out how to avoid it, but he deserved to leave for England feeling as happy as he could, and, ever the actress, she was determined to play her part. She smoothed her hair, straightened her back, and opened her door.

Nothing could have prepared her for what awaited her inside the apartment, however. Her living room was illuminated by a dozen candles and two vases full of daisies—one red and one yellow—sat on her coffee table. Based on the smell alone, she knew something delicious was in the slow cooker, and the table was set for two.

The only thing missing was Leonard.

“Sweetie?” she called, dropping her purse on the floor next to the door. “Leonard?”

He popped up from behind the counter, and when she saw the smile on his face, she was worried he was going to propose again. “Hi,” he said.

“What is all this?” she asked, a smile lighting her tired face.

He poured two glasses of Cabernet and handed her one. “Well, since tonight is my last night here, I wanted to do something special for you, and I wanted to show you how much I appreciate how supportive you’ve been. I know this all came as kind of a shock.”

She sipped the wine, grateful for its soothing burn down her spine. “Leonard, you’re my boyfriend. Why wouldn’t I support you?”

“I don’t know. I mean, Sheldon wasn’t exactly happy for me, and he of all people should know how exciting this is.”

She pursed her lips. “Do you really want to bring him into this evening?”

“You’re right,” he said. “Tonight is all about you.”

She clinked her glass against his. “Thank you. For all of this, I mean.” Her eyes darted back to the flowers. “The daisies are beautiful, by the way.”

He seemed delighted to have pleased her. “I had a hard time deciding on a color, so I did some research. Obviously, red represents love, but as it turns out, yellow represents friendship.”

She returned his smile. “Because we started out as friends, right?”

“No,” he replied, and when she looked confused, he said, “because you’re not just my girlfriend. You’re my best friend.”

Tears prickled behind her eyes as she set her glass down and wrapped her arms around him. “I am going to miss you so much.”

“You’re just saying that because without me, you’re going to have to live on takeout and ramen for nine months,” he said with a mischievous smirk.

She rolled her eyes. “You act like I didn’t eat before you came along.” Then she lifted the lid of the slow cooker and found a roasted chicken with carrots and potatoes inside it. “Okay, I ate, but I didn’t eat _this_ well.”

“Aren’t you happy you gave up being a vegetarian?”

A grin spread across her face. “Almost as happy as you’re going to be tomorrow morning.” As he started to plate dinner, she could have sworn she saw trepidation on his face. “Leonard? What’s wrong?”

“Oh, nothing—nothing at all,” he replied, a little too quickly. That was his tell, and he knew Penny knew that. He cursed himself for not being a better liar. Before she could call him out, he said, “I guess I’m having pre-trip jitters. And I’m not looking forward to being away from you.”

“I know, but think of how much you’re going to get to learn on this trip. And besides, if you’re going to leave me for someone, you could do worse than Stephen Hawking.”

He couldn’t help laughing. “I guess you’re right. Although I don’t think he’ll be as nice to wake up to.”

As they ate, the conversation went from the specifics of Leonard’s research project (most of which Penny did not understand), how often they would get to talk (not much, Leonard said, as he would be at sea without much internet or phone access most of the time), and, of course, the care and feeding of Sheldon. It would be the first time since he and Leonard became roommates that either of them would be gone for this length of time, and Leonard knew that Sheldon wasn’t exactly known for being adaptable.

“I know it’s a big responsibility but think of it as preparation for having kids someday,” Leonard said as he finished the last carrot on his plate.

She polished off the last of her wine. “When I was a kid, my parents would kick me out of the house at nine in the morning and tell me not to come back in until the streetlights went on.”

“Well, you can always tell Sheldon to go to the comic book store and not come back until the streetlights come on,” he laughed.

She leaned back in her chair and played with the edge of her empty glass. “Oh, please, I don’t need to _tell_ him to do that. I just need to drop him off there, and he’ll do it on his own.” Then, she looked up at him, adoration in her gaze. “Leonard, thank you for tonight. I can’t think of a better way to spend our last night together.”

“C’mon. It’s not our last night together. It’s more like...a sabbatical from sleepovers.”

She giggled. “That sounds like the nerdiest band ever.”

“I wonder if they have an opening for a cellist.”

Forgetting herself for a moment, she got up from the table and sat down in his lap. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her lips to his. He returned the kiss, letting his hands wander to her waist. He didn’t think he would ever get tired of feeling Penny’s skin against his. It was not lost on him that she probably thought he was just trying to get sex. But he never told her the real reason he constantly wanted to touch her: that sometimes, he merely wanted to make sure she wasn’t some sort of fever dream. After all, in what universe did a guy like him get a woman like her?

In fantasy ones, that was where.

At that moment, however, he _was_ trying to get sex. Unless he managed to get both a decent internet connection _and_ some privacy on the boat, this would be the last time for nine months that he would be able to do anything except talk to her on the phone once in a while. He wanted to capture this night with her in his mind for those moments when—as he knew he would—he desperately missed her.

Penny was so wrapped up in kissing him that she very nearly forgot her concerns about what would usually come after. Despite his occasional insecurities about their relationship and her feelings for him, he was the best boyfriend she’d ever had. He was thoughtful and smart and above-average in bed. She sometimes wondered why he wanted her. She wasn’t as smart as him or any of their friends. She didn’t have a real career. She was almost always broke, and the only real passions she had were for wine and making Pennyblossoms for random strangers on the internet.

What scared her the most, however, was what she wondered most often: whether Leonard would want her if she didn’t look the way she did. If she didn’t have blonde hair and big boobs, would he still be interested in her? Would he have ever been?

And that was when she remembered that for the first time, her breasts were the enemy.

“Leonard—sweetie—” She gently pushed him away, not so quickly that he would feel rejected but enough that he would stop.

“Oh,” he said, still kissing the side of her neck, “do you want to go into the bedroom and start that sleepover?”

She started to panic. If she said yes, they would eventually end up naked, and although she didn’t think the lump was visible, she knew he would be able to feel it. She thought back to her relationship with Kurt. When he wanted to do it, they did it. He never quite _forced_ her, but she also knew that saying she wasn’t in the mood wasn’t an option. The only time he would back off was if she had her—

 _Of course_ , she thought.

“Leonard, I want to. It’s just—”

“Just what?” he asked, and she could already sense the disappointment in his voice.

“Sweetie, it’s—I wasn’t sure how to tell you, because I knew how disappointed you’d be...but...”

“Penny, please just say it.”

“I got my period, okay?” She said it in a tone that was far more annoyed than she intended. Softening her eyes, she put on her best apologetic face. “I’m sorry. I know it’s awful timing, with you going away, and this being our last, um, sleepover...”

He was silent for a few moments, and then said, “I’m sorry, too.”

“What do _you_ have to be sorry about? It’s my body that’s ruining everything.” Her words meant something entirely different to each of them.

“I’m sorry because I won’t be able to give you something—or a couple somethings—to remember me by,” he replied, with an expression of smug satisfaction.

She smiled back at him, feeling thankful and guilty all at once. “Well, maybe I can make it up to you.” She stood up and took him by the hand. “Come on.”

He hesitated. “Penny, I was only kidding. You don’t have to—”

She pressed a finger to his lips, silencing him. “I know I don’t have to. That’s why I _want_ to.”

And at least about that, she wasn’t lying.


	4. Care and Feeding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promised y'all a longer chapter, and I have tried to deliver! I’m hoping this will give you guys enough to get you through until after this stupid exam is over in October.
> 
> Something you should know about my stories: I try to go for verisimilitude in my writing wherever possible. It is not uncommon for me to Google Map destinations to see how far they are from each other or what route one would take to get places. I try to describe places as they are wherever possible (hence my research into the buildings at Caltech where these dorks would work and where they are in relation to each other). I’m going to try to do the same thing with Penny’s illness; not just because I consider it my job as a writer to be accurate, but because I also want to approach the topic with sensitivity. I research as much as I can, but having never gone through anything like this, I may not be as accurate as I’d like to be with her symptoms. So some suspension of disbelief may be required, but if you are a survivor of cancer or know someone who is, I apologize in advance for anything I get wrong.
> 
> Along that same vein, I borrowed some of the science stuff from episodes of the show, because I barely passed bio in high school and know nothing of physics or astronomy. I also have NO idea how much Raj would know about Sheldon’s field and vice versa, so just go with me when I have them discussing work if you can.
> 
> Finally, I wanted to give a shout out to my friend Jeff for helping me with Schrödinger. I had a hard time with the metaphor and he was kickass as he always is when I’m stuck on a story. 
> 
> ***  
> Playlist is here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0GG8S8kfhiQCYOz7if2oKr?si=d9kkYUXjRTikI7oxZdubkw
> 
> Song: "A Little Help From My Friends" by The Beatles (I used The Maine's version in the playlist, but pick your flavor).

Morning came both too quickly and not quickly enough.

At the first sound of the Zelda theme song blaring from his phone, Leonard all but leaped out of bed. He felt like a kid on Christmas morning—or at least what he imagined kids feel on Christmas morning, since his childhood didn’t include many holiday celebrations. His bag was packed and waiting for him in Penny’s living room. All that was left was to shower, eat a quick breakfast, and head to the airport.

He glanced down at Penny, still somehow fast asleep. Her hair was splayed around her like a golden wave; he half expected it to ripple. The top of her shoulder peeked out from under the comforter, tan against tangerine, and her lips were parted just enough that Leonard could hear her breathing. He resisted the urge to climb back into bed and instead ambled to the bathroom for his shower.

When he came back into the bedroom, he was surprised to see Penny’s side of the bed empty. She had agreed to drive him to the airport, but he had expected to have to wake her up ten minutes before they had to leave. He hastily put on his jeans and favorite hoodie and headed out to the living room, where he found Penny making scrambled eggs and Sheldon criticizing her.

“Penny, you allowed the skillet to become too hot! The eggs are going to cook too quickly and their texture will be—”

“Sheldon, I swear to God, if you keep talking, you aren’t getting any eggs at all!” Penny snapped as she folded the eggs over in the pan. All she had wanted to do was give Leonard a decent breakfast before his twelve-hour flight, and Sheldon, who was going with them to the airport, just _had_ to be all Sheldon-y about it. It didn’t bode well—not for the drive to the airport, and certainly not for the nine months to come.

“Penny, today is Sunday. Sunday is oatmeal day. I don’t eat scrambled eggs on oatmeal day.”

Leonard could sense that Sheldon was about to be wearing the eggs, so he cleared his throat. “Good morning,” he said, kissing Penny on the cheek as he entered the kitchen. “Breakfast looks amazing.”

She was grateful for what she knew to be a deliberate shot at Sheldon’s running commentary. “Thanks! Coffee’s in the pot. Do you want ketchup?”

“Ketchup? That’s an odd substitute for creamer...” Sheldon mused.

“Not for the coffee,” she said, frustration heavy in her voice. “For the eggs.”

“Well, that’s even more vile than if he put it in his coffee.”

“Oh, please,” Leonard said. It was way too early to be dealing with Sheldon’s nonsense. “You eat hot dogs in spaghetti.”

“Actually, that’s not half-bad.”

Leonard gaped at Penny, who was, by then, plating the eggs. “I’m sorry, weren’t you just arguing with him?”

She pushed a plate toward him. “I was. But I’m just saying, it’s a good dinner.”

Sheldon looked entirely too satisfied with himself, and in response, Leonard squirted a generous dollop of ketchup onto the eggs. He didn’t even really _like_ ketchup on scrambled eggs. He just wanted to make a point, even if he didn’t know what that point was. Meanwhile, Penny handed Sheldon a bowl of plain oatmeal, which she held in the same regard as he held scrambled eggs and ketchup, but at least it kept him quiet.

Breakfast was far more enjoyable after that.

* * *

Two hours later, the three of them were standing inside LAX, the security line just a few feet away. Sheldon stood off to the side, watching Leonard and Penny saying goodbye as if observing some sort of anthropological experiment. Leonard was holding back tears as he kissed Penny for, by Sheldon’s count, the sixteenth time since they’d arrived. Sheldon didn’t quite understand why Leonard was so upset. He was going on the trip of a lifetime, one of which Sheldon himself was jealous, so why was he almost in tears over a temporary farewell to a woman whom he had only been dating for a year? Perhaps he was concerned that she would find a new mate before he returned, which was not an unreasonable assumption.

Penny, on the other hand, had not bothered to hold back tears. Although she was not an outwardly emotional woman—save for when she drank to excess—she was still, in fact, a woman, and thus more prone to emotional responses. She had buried her head in Leonard’s shoulder, her blonde hair falling from the loose bun on top of her head.

“I’m sorry, I know I should be holding it together,” she sniffled against him. “I don’t want this to be the last memory you have of me.”

He put his hands on her shoulders and pulled her back so that he could look into her eyes. “Hey, I’m just leaving for a few months to go hang out on a boat. It’s not like I’m going off to war.”

She wiped at her eyes. “Even still, I guess I didn’t realize just how much I’m going to miss you until now.”

After he kissed her again, he glanced over her shoulder and saw Sheldon looking back at him with an odd expression on his normally impassive face. The two men approached each other but it was a full thirty seconds before either of them spoke.

“Leonard, as much as I—” “Sheldon, I hope—”

“You go first,” Leonard said.

Sheldon looked at the ground as he always did when he wanted to say something sincere but didn’t quite know how. “As envious as I was when you were offered this opportunity, and although I am clearly the more qualified of the two of us—”

Leonard sighed. “Is this your idea of a goodbye?”

“Well, let me finish,” Sheldon said, and glanced at Penny. “He’s so rude sometimes.” Penny shot him a look that could best be described as bemused. “Anyway,” he continued, “I hope that you know I wish you nothing but the best. I hope working with Professor Hawking is everything you hope it will be.”

Leonard waited for a “bazinga,” or at least some thoughtless post-script, but none came. Was it possible, he wondered, that Sheldon _was_ happy for him? “Wow. Well, I—thanks, Sheldon. That means a lot to me.”

“And you don’t have to worry,” Sheldon added. “While you’re gone, I won’t allow anyone to take credit for the work you’re doing in the lab at Caltech.”

“Thanks, buddy, I appr—”

“Not that I know of anyone who would want to.”

 _Aaaaand there it is,_ Leonard thought, but in the interest of leaving things on a positive note, he chose to ignore it.

“Sheldon...I’ll miss you,” he finally said, and held out his hand, hoping Sheldon would take it despite his germaphobia.

Sheldon rolled his eyes but, having been raised with southern manners drilled into his head, grasped Leonard’s hand and shook it firmly. “You are going to miss your flight.”

Leonard knew that was as close to a sentimental goodbye as Sheldon would ever get. After giving Penny one last kiss, he entered the security line. And then there was nothing left for Penny and Sheldon to do except stand beside each other in silence as the most important person in both their lives disappeared into a sea of faces.

“Well,” Sheldon said as soon as Leonard was out of sight, “I guess that’s it.”

Penny sniffled and dabbed at the corners of her eyes with her fingertips. “Yeah. I guess so.”

He looked down at her. “Are you going to be all right?”

She gave him a watery smile. “I’ll be fine. I just need a minute.”

They began walking back to the parking lot. “Oh, I’m glad to hear that. Who else is going to drive me home?”

“Oh, God, is this how it’s going to be for the next nine months? Leonard isn’t here, so I’m responsible for driving you everywhere?”

“Of course not. I will be taking the bus to and from work.”

“Thank God, because I don’t want to wake up at six in the morning every—”

“I will, however, need you to take me to the store to obtain extra bus pants.”

She would _buy_ him the bus pants if it meant she didn’t have to get up at sunrise five days a week. “Fine.”

They walked in comfortable silence alongside each other until they reached Leonard’s car, which he had insisted Penny use until he returned. Sheldon was grateful for this gesture as well, as Penny’s check engine light had been on for months. He was just beginning to feel relieved, until he saw her squeeze the bridge of her nose as she got behind the wheel. It was then, in the natural light of mid-morning, he noticed unusual bags under her eyes.

“Penny, did you get adequate REM sleep last night?” he asked.

“Yep,” she replied absently, acclimating herself to Leonard’s Prius. It was almost brand new, and everything was electronic, as opposed to her decade-and-a-half-old Volkswagen that still had crank-operated windows.

“I’m concerned about your ability to drive,” he continued. “You look extraordinarily tired. Was Leonard’s snoring particularly loud last night? Sometimes I wear earplugs when he starts to sound like a human freight train. You would think that sound would be soothing to me, but—”

“I said I’m _fine,_ Sheldon,” she snapped, and then out of the corner of her eye, she saw him wince. This was the second time in a week she had lashed out at him. What bothered her was that she _was_ exhausted, and that he noticed. It was draining, trying not to focus on—or worse, let slip—the secret that was hiding under her clothes, and she had in fact lost sleep over it. Furthermore, her shifts at work seemed to be getting more and more difficult, leaving her nearly comatose when she got home. But it wasn’t his fault, and she knew that, and she shouldn’t have yelled at him for being his usual observant self.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell at you again. I’ve just felt a little under the weather and—”

The second she said it, she wanted to stuff the sentence back in her mouth. Telling Sheldon she was feeling under the weather was like telling a five-year-old that they weren’t getting dessert. There was about to be a meltdown, but it would be man-sized instead of child-sized.

Sure enough, his eyes widened, he pulled the collar of his t-shirt over his mouth and nose, and shrank back against the passenger door. “What are you doing?” she asked.

“I can’t very well hold my breath all the way back to Pasadena!” he yelped.

It was tempting to let him think she _was_ contagious just to keep him quiet, but then she would have to listen to him bitch through her door later. “Sheldon, I’m fine. It’s just”—she thought quickly of how to say it without saying it—”female problems.” It was difficult enough to get a man to buy tampons without grumbling; in her experience, telling a man that you were having “female problems” was enough to get him to back off of whatever conversation he was trying to have. Unfortunately, she forgot who she was dealing with. He lowered his shirt and seemed to calm down a bit.

“Have you seen a doctor?”

Penny couldn’t be sure, but she thought she heard a hint of worry in his voice, even though he knew she wasn’t going to infect him. As she drove down Sepulveda toward the freeway, she gave him a quick, reassuring glance. “No, not yet, but I will. I just thought I was tired from work. But I’m pretty sure I know what’s wrong and can get it handled.”

The truth was that in the last few days, she had spent every free moment reading about possible explanations for what she had found. Based on what she’d read, she was fairly certain that she was dealing with a cyst, or, worst case, a fibroadenoma. Either of those things would be an easy fix—generally, it seemed, they went away on their own. So she wasn’t in a particular hurry to get to the women’s clinic. She had plenty of other things to deal with, like the three extra shifts she had picked up for the week so that she could pay both her rent and the electric bill.

“What are your symptoms?”

She snapped back to attention just in time to merge onto the freeway. “Sorry, what?”

“I asked what your symptoms are,” he said plainly. “Itching? Burning? Redness?”

Penny was both grateful and irritated that she was driving; otherwise, she might have slapped him. “ _Sheldon!_ I’m going to pretend you didn’t just ask me that.”

“Surely you realize that allowing such matters to go untreated will only lead to further complications,” he said, as if she _didn’t_ know.

“I promise, I will get an appointment.”

He was quiet for some time, and Penny thought she had satisfied him.

“When?”

 _Damnit!_ she thought, and unconsciously stepped harder on the gas. “I don’t know.”

“Which clinic do you visit?”

“A women’s clinic,” she said through gritted teeth. Why wouldn’t he let this go?

“Which one? The Pasadena Women’s Medical Group? Fair Oaks Women’s Health? Planned Parenthood of Pasadena?”

“Do you nag Leonard like this when he’s sick?” she asked. “I already told you I’m not contagious!”

“Fine,” he sighed, not wanting to distract her while she was navigating the freeway. “Will you at least promise me that you will call them this week?”

Despite how annoyed she was with his badgering, Penny couldn’t help but feel the slightest twinge of affection toward him. If she hadn’t known better, she’d have thought he cared more about her health than his obsessive need to control everything.

“Yes, I promise, I will call them this week. And to answer your question, it’s Planned Parenthood.”

“Thank you,” he said, relieved. “Now, seeing as it’s Sunday, and neither of us have plans, would you perhaps care to join me for an afternoon of 3D chess?”

“I don’t even know how to play regular chess.” She hoped that would dissuade him from begging. All she really wanted was a nap.

“I thought Leonard was supposed to teach you.”

She pulled off the freeway and toward the apartment, glad that in a few minutes, she would be in her bed, alone. “Yeah, well, he tried, but I could never really keep everything straight in my head. I kept getting confused about which pieces could move where, and I could tell it made it less fun for him when I took too long.”

He didn’t reply for a few minutes, instead gazing out the window as if he’d never seen any of the buildings before. “Would you like to learn?” he asked, as they pulled into the apartment parking lot.

“Learn what?” She felt like her brain was already asleep even though her body was—barely—still upright. Everything felt foggy, like she couldn’t quite process what Sheldon was saying.

He shot her a look of frustration, although she didn’t appear to notice. “Chess, of course.”

He then launched into a monologue about the history of chess, to which she only half-listened. If she kept quiet, eventually they would reach their apartments and she wouldn’t even have to engage. Sure enough, by the time they hit the fourth floor, he was still going on about some French guy with an absurdly long name beating some Irish guy in a tournament.

“Okay,” she said, interrupting his history lesson. “I need to catch a nap. You gonna call the guys to come over later?”

“Oh, doubtful. Rajesh is spending the evening in the telescope room.”

What about Howard?”

Sheldon furrowed his brow in confusion. “Why on Earth would I invite him over by himself? What would we even talk about?”

She shrugged. “You invited me over to play 3D chess. Why can’t you do that with him?”

“Because I don’t want to play chess with him,” Sheldon replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “Usually I play chess with Leonard. As you are Leonard’s girlfriend, you are the obvious stand-in.”

“But I just told you I don’t know how to play!” she said, a hint of exasperation in her voice. She shouldn’t have even asked about evening plans.

“Well, you never answered my question.”

She stared at him blankly. “What question?”

“Do you want to learn?”

She didn’t even remember him asking her that. The idea of Sheldon teaching her chess brought back haunting memories of the time she asked him to help her learn about physics. The sentence “What is physics?” still gave her anxiety.

“ Sheldon, look, I’m really tired. Maybe we can talk about it later.”

“All right.” He turned toward his door, and, as he opened it, he heard a noise. He turned back around to see Penny fumbling her keys a bit. _She must really be exhausted,_ he thought. _It’s a good thing she didn’t crash the car on our way home. I might have been killed!_ He was about to ask her if she had again tried to open her apartment using her car key, when she managed to push the door open and disappeared inside.

* * *

When he entered his own apartment, Sheldon was suddenly struck by the silence inside. He found that fact strange; it wasn’t as though he had never been alone in the apartment, even for extended periods of time when Leonard would go back to New Jersey or on vacations with Penny. In fact, he preferred the quiet. For the next nine months, he wouldn’t have to deal with Leonard taking more than his allotted bathroom time, or Penny making a mess in the kitchen while cooking breakfast on Saturday mornings, or endless, inane conversations that distracted him from his work. Other than with Amy, of course, and that was tedious enough.

As soon as he thought it, he scolded himself. He had been told such feelings were not appropriate, or at least the expression of them. He and Amy had been dating for over half a year, and in that time, he had grown to care for her in what he supposed was the way a boyfriend was supposed to care for a girlfriend. She was kind and a brilliant neurobiologist and a suitable mate for someone of his intelligence. And on the rare occasions he considered the idea of children, he knew he and Amy would, in all likelihood, create intelligent offspring.

But to get to that point, he knew that he would need to become comfortable not just with physical intimacy but also the idea of living with a woman. Living with Leonard was difficult enough, which brought him back to the fact that he had the apartment to himself for nine months, and although this should have thrilled him, he felt unnerved. Worse, he couldn’t understand why.

It was only half-past eleven in the morning, and he wasn’t entirely sure what to do with himself. Usually, he and Leonard would meet Howard and Raj at the comic book store on Sunday afternoon, but he wasn’t sure whether that would still be a regular occurrence now that Leonard was gone. At a minimum, someone else would need to drive him. He didn’t have enough bus pants to get to work _and_ the comic book store.

Perhaps work would be a better idea anyway. He could always allow himself to deviate from his routine for work. Alone with his thoughts and equations on a whiteboard usually soothed whatever unrest was going on in his life. Maybe by the time he finished, Penny would be available for dinner. He made a mental note to pick up some hot dogs on the way home.

He changed his pants and grabbed his work bag, making sure he had his iPod and charger with him. As he left the apartment and locked the door, he glanced across the hall. It had only been about fifteen minutes since they arrived home, but he wondered if she was already asleep. He had the urge to knock on her door and tell her where he was going, since his usual schedule would have him either at home or at the comic book store, and what would happen if she couldn’t find him in an emergency? But then he remembered how tired she seemed as she was entering her apartment and thought better of it. He had incurred Penny’s wrath for waking her up too early, and it wasn’t something he wanted to experience again. So, he departed the building for the bus stop just outside, already working on the equations he’d left on his office whiteboard the previous week.

* * *

The second she closed her door, Penny dropped her purse on the floor and all but dived onto the couch. It wasn’t unheard-of for her to sleep on her couch; she had passed out on it many times when she’d had too much wine or when she came home from a long shift at work and fell asleep watching some crappy rom-com. But it was rare that she was so tired that she _had_ to go for the couch because the idea of walking to the bedroom was too tiring. She managed to kick off her shoes—thank God for ballet flats—and curled up into the fetal position, holding onto the throw pillow under her head. She would just take a quick nap, and then she would feel better, she was sure. Maybe she would let Sheldon teach her to play chess...or maybe that was the exhaustion talking. She also knew she had to call Planned Parenthood, but she needed to confirm her work schedule for the following week before she could make an appointment anyway...

She didn’t know how long she’d slept, but she was awakened suddenly by the sound of a door opening and closing. For a moment she thought it might be Leonard, but then, through her sleep-induced haze, she remembered he was gone. So, it had to have been Sheldon, and she expected to hear three sets of three knocks interspersed by three calls of her name...but none came. It wasn’t as if Sheldon was obligated to tell her where he was going, of course, but she was surprised that he didn’t. Maybe he realized how tired she was after all and didn’t want to bother her. She was just beginning to drift back to sleep, when she got a text.

_I have gone to the university to catch up on work. Do you want to have dinner tonight at 7? I can pick up hot dogs. – S_

_So much for realizing how tired I am_ , she thought. Just that morning, he had been criticizing her cooking, and now he was asking her to make dinner for them—and she knew that’s what he was suggesting, even though he invited her. She wasn’t exactly shocked, though. For all his complaints about Leonard, she knew it would be difficult for Sheldon to be alone. Amy lived across town, so she wasn’t a convenient replacement, and Howard and Raj only had so much patience for him, despite being his friends. So she would muster her strength and make dinner for them, and then bow out early, using her early shift at the restaurant as an excuse.

 _Sure,_ she wrote back. _But get wine, too._

She saw three bubbles floating up and down on the text screen, and then a second later, got another message. _What kind of wine?_

 _There’s a cool one I saw last time I was at the store,_ she typed back. _It was in a dark bottle. The guy said that you don’t know if it’s red or white until you open it. I don’t remember the name, just go to the store down the street and ask them._

A minute later, he wrote back again. _Schrödinger’s wine it is._

Despite her fatigue and the emotionally taxing morning she’d had, she laughed. Sheldon didn’t generally make jokes, but sometimes, he was unintentionally funny. At least, she thought he was. Even if she couldn’t understand most of what he said, she understood intonation, and it wasn’t usually _what_ he said but rather how he said it that made her laugh.

After a final “LOL” to him, she turned her phone off and turned over on the couch, feeling like her body weighed twice what it normally did. If she was going to be able to cook dinner that night, she _definitely_ needed this nap.

What she didn’t realize was that a nap wasn’t _all_ she needed.

* * *

Raj had been in the telescope room all afternoon sorting through six months of data points, trying to find patterns and anomalies, but was coming up empty. He had made sure the camera was white-field balanced, but he couldn’t do anything else until later that evening. There were a few images he needed to try to recreate to see if they were consistent over a period of days, but that would require him to take them at the same time as the old images, which meant he was stuck there for another three hours. He had tried to convince Howard to come hang out with him, but he and Bernadette were having dinner with her parents that night. Actually, Howard hadn’t needed convincing, but Bernadette was another story. Raj couldn’t blame her; Howard needed to learn that sometimes, adults have to do things they find unpleasant, like having dinner with your girlfriend’s parents. Or, in Raj’s case, having to be in the telescope room all night.

Without looking away from the screen, he picked up his thermos and tried to take a sip, except it was empty. He didn’t remember drinking all of it, but then, he tended to lose track of time when he was in this room. He decided that was a sign from the universe—the irony not lost on him—that it was time for a break. Even though it was Sunday, he knew the cafeteria would still be open, so he could get some more coffee, and then perhaps he would take a walk outside to refresh himself. After locking the room, he left the astrophysics building and headed across the street toward the cafeteria. He decided to take a shortcut through the Downs-Lauritsen building, where he used to work, figuring he could walk outside on the way back.

As soon as he entered the building, Raj realized all over again how grateful he was that he didn’t have to work in it anymore, and not just because he had been forced to share an office with Sheldon. It wasn’t particularly well-lit and, during non-work hours, could be downright creepy. Raj wondered if his old desk was still there; he didn’t see how anyone would have been able to remove it, so perhaps it would stay there in all its Brobdingnagian glory for the rest of time. Nobody even worked in that room anymore, since Sheldon had staged a hostile takeover of a retired colleague’s office. In fact, Raj realized, he was heading down the hallway that led to that office, from which a light radiated into the otherwise dark building.

Sheldon was standing in the middle of the room, facing away from the door, staring at a whiteboard full of equations on the wall across from him. His arms were crossed, and his shoulders hunched, as if he had been in that position for some time. “Pattern is the same as fermions, travels on the pathways, hexagonal, it’s always hexagonal...” he mumbled.

Raj gently knocked on the open door. “Sheldon? What are you doing here?”

Sheldon didn’t turn around. “Trying to figure out why electrons behave as if they have no mass when traveling through a graphene sheet,” he sighed.

Raj quirked an eyebrow. “Are you looking at them as particles or a wave?”

At that, Sheldon whirled around. “What did you just say?”

“I asked if you were looking at the electrons as particles or as a wave.”

Sheldon looked from his friend to the whiteboard like he was watching a tennis match. “Well, this is just awful,” he finally said, sounding defeated.

“What is?”

Sinking into his chair, Sheldon rubbed his eyes. “I’ve been staring at that board for hours now, and you come along and just _give me the answer_!”

Raj furrowed his brow. “And getting the answer is upsetting to you?”

“ _You_ getting the answer is upsetting to me. As if today couldn’t get worse.”

Raj knew he would regret asking, but apparently, he was an intellectual masochist. “What happened?”

“Leonard left today.”

Raj finally understood. “Ah, that’s right. You miss him. Well, Sheldon, you’ve been roommates for years. It seems only natural that—”

“I don’t miss him!” Sheldon said, exasperated. “His being gone, however, has caused a rather large disruption to my daily routine, despite my attempts to avoid that very problem.”

“Is this because we didn’t go to the comic book store today?” Raj asked. “We can go next weekend. It’s not like Stuart is going anywhere. He lives in the store, after all.”

Sheldon sighed. “It’s not just that. I am only here today because I didn’t know what else to do with myself. When Penny and I arrived home from the airport, I tried to convince her to play 3D chess with me, as Leonard and I did on Sundays when we couldn’t go to the comic book store. But because of her _female issues_ , she said she needed a nap.”

“Her _female issues_?” Raj repeated. “Like her time of the month?”

“She didn’t specify. I asked her symptoms, but she refused to provide any. All she would tell me is that she wasn’t contagious and that she would make a doctor’s appointment because she was, and I quote, ‘pretty sure she knew what was wrong and could get it handled.’”

Raj’s eyebrows shot up. “If she’s seeing a doctor, then it isn’t a monthly occurrence.”

“Perhaps it’s just a particularly _bad_ month.”

“Sheldon,” Raj said, trying to remain as clinical as possible, “my father is a gynecologist, and I can tell you with absolute certainty that Penny is not going to a doctor because of something that has been happening once a month since she was a teenager.”

Sheldon pondered this. Admittedly, although he had a working knowledge of many subjects, he never bothered to dig into details about the female reproductive system. He knew how it worked, of course—the physical symptoms of menstruation were common knowledge—but he didn’t have a reason to learn about how those symptoms _affected_ women.

“Well, if it’s not her monthly cycle, then what could it be?”

Raj shifted uncomfortably from side to side. “I don’t really feel comfortable discussing Penny’s medical issues.” He glanced at his watch. “I need to get going. The cafeteria is going to close soon and if I don’t get some coffee, I’m going to fall asleep before I can get any real work done.”

Sheldon nodded. “Indeed. I need to find a new equation to work out, and that may take some time, since I’ve solved so many of them already.”

With a roll of his eyes, Raj turned to leave. But just before he closed the door behind him, he turned back around. “Hey, Sheldon?”

“Yes?”

Raj tried to make eye contact, which was difficult, since Sheldon so rarely returned the gesture. But he managed to catch his friend’s eyes and held his stare. “Try to get her to go to the doctor sooner rather than later.”

Sheldon felt his pulse increase and blood rush to his face. “Excuse me?”

“I’m not saying that Penny cheated on Leonard or anything,” Raj continued, “but given the fact that her last boyfriend was less than faithful to her...” He hoped Sheldon would get the message without him having to say it, but Sheldon just stared at him blankly. “Look, it’s unlikely. It’s probably nothing. But like I said, my father is a gynecologist, and if there’s one thing he impressed upon me and my siblings when he gave us ‘the talk,’ it was that sometimes it takes years for symptoms to show up, and by that time, there’s nothing you can do. If she’s feeling that kind of fatigue, then she should see—”

Now Sheldon felt like the blood was rushing into his head and then draining from his body. “Oh, no. Oh, no, no, _no_! How could I be so stupid?” He felt like he was going to faint, and his breaths were dangerously rapid and shallow. “She could have herpes! She’s been using our silverware! I used hers just this morning!”

Raj was regretting having said anything. “Look, Sheldon, like I said, it’s unlikely. Don’t panic!”

But Sheldon wasn’t listening. He was too busy packing up his work bag and running out the door, hoping he could make it to the campus health center before they closed for the evening.

* * *

“Sheldon? It’s Penny. Open up!”

She was met with silence from the other side of the door. The best part of Sheldon was the fact that his routine hardly ever changed, and she knew that Monday night was Battlestar Galactica night. He should be in his spot, forcing her to watch the show with him while she tried not to look at her phone, lest he whine that she wasn’t paying attention. It was bad enough that he hadn’t shown up the previous evening for dinner. Now he wasn’t answering the door when he should be home.

“Sheldon, come on! I’m starting to get worried. Did I do something wrong?”

She put her ear up to the door, hoping to hear some sign of life. Her phone suddenly buzzed.

 _I am alive_ , it read.

She breathed a sigh of relief, but wasn’t satisfied. She wanted to know exactly what had kept him from her apartment and his favorite dinner.

 _Can you tell me what’s wrong?_ she typed back.

She waited. And waited. And waited some more. But no reply came.

Sighing, she went back into her own apartment. She was too tired to play this game. After she had realized that Sheldon was going to flake on dinner the night before, she had taken a hot shower and gone to bed early, but the next morning, she felt like she hadn’t slept in weeks. The restaurant had been packed that day, but while that would usually have made the day fly by, to her, the hours had dragged. So she wasn’t in the mood to try to get inside Dr. Whackadoodle’s beautiful mind.

Instead, she went to the one other person who might know what was going on.

Amy picked up on the second ring. “Hey, Bestie, what’s up?”

Penny hesitated. She didn’t want to alarm Amy, but she didn’t know how else to phrase the question. “Hey, Ames. How are you?”

“Oh, I’m all right. Just getting ready to practice a new song.”

Penny knew Amy was referring to her harp. “Oh, yeah? What song?”

“You’ll laugh.”

“I promise I won’t!”

Amy took a deep, shaky breath. “It’s ‘If Tomorrow Never Comes’ by Garth Brooks.”

“Wow. I didn’t know you could play a Garth Brooks song on the harp!”

“I don’t think it’s ever been done, but that’s what makes it a challenge.”

“I didn’t even realize you were a country fan, actually. Doesn’t seem like your kind of thing.”

“Oh, it’s not,” Amy assured her. “It’s just that Sheldon—”

She stopped abruptly and Penny laughed. “It’s okay. I already know about his love of Garth Brooks. We have the same iPod and I picked his up by mistake one day when I was over there. It’s cute that you’re learning his favorite song.”

Amy smiled. “I don’t know if he’ll appreciate it the way you do. Anyway, what’s up? You don’t usually call.”

Penny sighed. “Have you talked to Sheldon in the last day or so?”

“Ah,” Amy said, as if she had been expecting this question. “I have, yes.”

Pacing through her apartment nervously, Penny said, “Well, um...he was supposed to come over for dinner last night, and he didn’t show. And just now, I went over there to try to talk to him, and he wouldn’t come to the door. All I got was a text telling me he’s alive. Do you know what’s going on? Is he sick?”

Amy took a deep breath. “I’m going to tell you, but you can’t freak out. Keep in mind that we’re dealing with someone who goes worst-case-scenario in...well, all scenarios.”

“Okay, fine, I won’t freak out.”

“And please remember that this isn’t _me_ saying this, it’s just being the messenger. So don’t shoot me.”

“Amy!” Penny squeezed the bridge of her nose. “Just spit it out. What’s. Going. On. With. Sheldon?”

“He thinks you have an STD, and he’s afraid of catching it.”

Penny was glad she was standing in front of her couch at that exact moment, because she immediately collapsed onto it in shock and disbelief. “You—wait—he _what?_ ”

Amy cleared her throat. “He thinks you have—”

“No, no, I got that,” Penny replied, a sharp edge to her voice. “What I mean is, _why_ does he think that? _How_ could he think that? I would never cheat on Leonard!”

“He doesn’t think you cheated on Leonard,” Amy reassured her. “He thinks your last boyfriend—Kurt, right?—cheated on you and gave you something.”

Penny was aghast. “Gave me _what?_ I think I’d know if I had an STD!”

“I thought you said you wouldn’t freak out.”

“I know I did, but I wasn’t expecting—I mean, can you understand how this might have upset me a little? Please tell me he hasn’t told anyone else this little theory.” She was horrified at the thought that Sheldon might have shared this idea with Raj or—worse—Howard.

“No, no, it was just me, I swear,” Amy replied quickly. “Rajesh was actually the one who brought it up, but other than that—”

Penny looked around for something to throw. “ _Raj_ thinks I have an STD?”

“Again, no one thinks it’s your fault!”

“ _I do not have an STD!_ ” Penny yelled. “There’s nothing to be at fault _for_! Except the double murder I’m about to commit.”

Amy tried to calm her friend down. “Sheldon was just worried about you because you said something was going on that you needed to get a doctor’s appointment for. And Rajesh, well...okay, I can’t think of anything to justify his part in it,” she admitted. “But you know how Sheldon is. He’s not going to see _anyone_ , until he knows he doesn’t have something contagious.”

“Maybe that’s a good thing!” Penny exclaimed. “He can stay in there for nine months and I won’t have to deal with him!”

Amy hesitated, but then said, “Penny, I know you don’t have anything contagious. And your body is yours to deal with, however you want. But if you won’t go for him, or for you, do it for me. I’d like to see my boyfriend again before I die.”

Rubbing her eyes with her free hand, Penny took a few deep, calming breaths. “Okay. All right. I know. He was bothering me to get an appointment on the way home yesterday, even before he thought—yeah. I’ll make the appointment after I hang up the phone. But not for him!” she added. “For you. Besides, you’re the only other person who can deal with him, and I’m going to need help for the next nine months.”

“Thank you.” Penny could hear the smile on her face. She was about to say goodbye when Amy said, “Penny?”

“Yeah?”

“Can I ask what _is_ going on?”

Penny didn’t know what to say. She could tell Amy, she knew. Amy would understand. Plus, she was so logical and calm that she wouldn’t panic the way, say, Leonard might have. She would probably offer to go with Penny to the appointment for support. But Penny didn’t know if she wanted that. Having someone go with her made it sound like a bigger deal than it was. All she was dealing with was a cyst or something. There was no need to involve anyone else.

“I just—I need to get some new birth control,” she lied. “I’m getting some weird side effects and since Leonard’s gone, I think now’s a good time to switch.”

“I see.” Amy sounded relieved. “Would you like me to pass that information along to Sheldon?”

“Sure. I don’t know if he’ll believe you, but they’re going to make me have the testing done anyway when I go, so I can prove to him that I’m not diseased and neither is he.”

“All right. I’m going to go do that, and then go practice. Would you like to get together sometime this week?”

“Sure,” Penny said again. “I’ll let you know what day when I find out when my appointment is.”

“Great. Talk to you soon, Bestie.”

“Bye.”

After she hung up the phone, Penny pulled up the Planned Parenthood website and clicked on the link to schedule an appointment. They had an opening at 9am Wednesday, and all day on Friday. Unfortunately, she had to work the afternoon shift on Friday, so she was stuck with the early appointment. Between this and getting up at six in the morning to drop Leonard at the airport, she’d end up on Sheldon’s schedule by the end of the week.

Not a minute after she clicked “submit” on the form did she have a text from Sheldon.

 _Amy informs me that you have made an appointment with the clinic_ , he wrote. _She also informs me that your issue is related to hormones._

 _Yes_ , she wrote back. _I do not, in fact, have a disease. But if it will make you happy, I’ll show you the test results when I get them back._

She was cleaning her kitchen when he replied, two hours later. _Are you angry with me?_

She wanted to reply that she was. But, as Amy had said, even if he had thought she had some contagious virus, he hadn’t placed the blame on her for it. He was just doing what he always did—assuming the worst.

 _No,_ she finally replied. _Raj, on the other hand...I might have to go Junior Rodeo on his ass._

Three bubbles appeared, disappeared, and reappeared as he typed out his response. When it finally came, she laughed out loud, his unintentional humor restoring order to their friendship.

_If you do that, please be sure to record it. The next episode of Fun With Flags includes a segment on the significance of the white flag in battle. Raj waving one would be a wonderful visual aid._


	5. That Crashing Sound

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, as it turns out, the perfect way to de-stress from studying for this idiotic test (which is next week and for which I feel entirely unprepared) is by writing more of this story. I know this chapter isn't as long as the last, but again, I felt like it came to a good stopping place. I can also tell you this is going to go into probably the 20s as far as chapters go. Yep, that's right, 20+. 
> 
> This chapter is very Penny-centric and I've tried to develop her a bit more through the experience she goes through. This is just the start of her ordeal, of course, but I wanted to give her a little more depth before it really gets going. 
> 
> I hope you guys enjoy, and of course, as always, thank you so much to those who leave kudos and comments. You guys give me LIFE. <3
> 
> ***  
> Playlist is here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0GG8S8kfhiQCYOz7if2oKr?si=d9kkYUXjRTikI7oxZdubkw
> 
> Song: "Weak" by Daphne Khoo

Penny sat in the waiting room of Planned Parenthood, nervously flipping through a magazine. Even though she had only scheduled it two days before, she had been dreading this appointment since that afternoon in the shower the previous week. She’d had dozens of visits to women’s clinics over the years, for reasons ranging from yearly exams to pregnancy tests to a complete STD panel after she found out Kurt had cheated on her—which is why she knew that wasn’t the problem. It was hard to be mad at Raj for his suspicions when he wasn’t wrong, although she had read him the riot act anyway.

Although she had told Sheldon that she was going to Pasadena’s clinic, she went to West Hollywood instead. For some reason, she didn’t want to risk running into any of the girls from work—many of whom used Planned Parenthood for healthcare since they had no insurance—however small that chance was. She was getting tired of having to lie about why she was seeing a doctor or what was causing her terrible mood, especially since she was convinced nothing was seriously wrong. She had just had her annual exam six months ago; surely, they would have found something then. There was no history of cancer in her family. She was young, active, and healthy.

She knew all of those things.

So why was she sitting in her chair, leg jumping wildly, with a tightness in her chest that hadn’t been there before last week?

The door that led to the exam rooms opened and a gray-haired nurse appeared. “Harris? Penny Harris?”

She jumped out of her chair and threw her purse over her shoulder. “Here,” she said, and then felt stupid, like she was announcing her attendance in school.

The nurse smiled warmly. “Come with me.” She led Penny past the desk and a set of bathrooms, and showed her into the last exam room in the hallway. Penny sat in one of the two chairs along the wall, while the nurse sat at a tiny desk and started typing at the computer. “Can you confirm your date of birth for me?”

“December 2, 1985,” Penny replied.

The nurse gave her the same warm smile. She reminded Penny of her grandmother, only slightly younger and without the chain-smoking. “Well, happy belated birthday, dearie!”

“Thanks, um...”

“Oh, I’m sorry! I’m Val.”

Penny smiled at her. “Thanks, Val.”

Val asked Penny some questions about her general health, whether she felt safe at home, and whether she was sexually active and with how many people. Once that was through, she asked Penny if she wanted STD testing. “You don’t have to do it if you don’t want to, but it helps us—”

“Test me,” Penny quickly replied, and felt her cheeks burn. “It’s not that I think my boyfriend’s cheating on me or something, but—”

“You don’t have to explain anything, dearie,” Val replied, touching Penny’s arm briefly. “Now, before I go get the supplies for that, can you tell me more about why you’re here?”

Penny sighed. “It’s just...um...I was in the shower the other day—last week, actually—and I felt something weird.”

“Can you be a little more specific?”

“On my left breast, kind of near my armpit. There’s a weird bump there. I think it’s probably nothing, because it doesn’t hurt, but I thought I should come get it looked at anyway.”

Val’s expression didn’t change, but her eyebrows drew together slightly. “I see.” She typed more and clicked the mouse a few times. Then she stood up and gave Penny that same warm, reassuring smile. “Okay, I’ll let the doctor know, and in the meantime, we’ll get some blood drawn. I’ll test you for pregnancy while we’re at it, although since you’re on birth control, that’s an unlikely prospect.”

Penny was left alone with the sound of silence ringing loudly in her ears. She found herself staring at one of the framed posters, a diagram of the female reproductive system. She’d seen it before, of course, in her high school science books and during her past visits to the gynecologist. But this was the first time she’d really _looked_ at it. Even though Sheldon made fun of biology frequently, if there was an area of science Penny might have ever been interested in, it would have been that. The human body was capable of so many things, and the female body was special in that it could literally hold another life inside it. But for as complex as the female body was, there were dozens of ways it could fail. She thought of all the pregnancy scares she’d had and wondered if there was a life event that caused women to go from being afraid of being pregnant to being afraid that they wouldn’t be able to.

What happened, she wondered, to make someone’s body betray them?

Suddenly, the door opened, and she jumped for the second time that day. Val came in first, followed by a woman in a white coat. Tight, black curls were piled on top of her head, and she had the cutest pink-and-black kitten heels Penny had ever seen. She would have to remember to ask where they came from.

“Hi, I’m Dr. Cooper,” the black-haired woman said. “But you can call me Anna.”

“You gotta be shitting me...” Penny mumbled, as Val began prepping her for a blood draw.

“I’m sorry?”

“Oh, God, sorry, it’s just—nevermind. Cute shoes!”

Anna smiled. “Thank you! Nordstrom’s semi-annual.” She took a seat where Val had been, reviewing the notes in Penny’s chart. “I see you’re here about a mystery lump.”

“Yeah,” Penny replied. “I found it by total chance. I wasn’t even doing a self-exam, I was just in the shower and...” She trailed off, as if scolding herself for not having done a self-exam in years.

“And how long ago was your last exam at an office?”

“Six months. Which is why I’m guessing it’s nothing. It would have been there then.”

There was a question implied in her words, but Anna didn’t answer it. After Val took blood and left the room, Anna pulled a hospital gown from a cupboard and handed it to Penny. “Put this on and hop up on the table. I’ll be back in just a minute.”

When Anna left, Penny stared down at the blue and white cloth in her hands. Despite still being fully clothed, the idea of putting on that gown made her feel more exposed than if she had been completely naked. But she slowly stripped off her sweater, tank top, and bra, and shrugged on the gown, holding it closed. She waited on the table, finding it slightly weird to be totally naked from the waist up and still wearing jeans and sneakers.

There was a soft knock at the door. “All good?” Anna called from outside.

“Yeah,” Penny replied, but she held the gown tighter.

Anna came back and washed her hands, then motioned for Penny to lay down, although she didn’t put up the stirrups. Penny drew open the gown and closed her eyes, wondering why, after having breast exams performed every time she had an annual, this time felt more invasive.

Anna began the exam, starting on the outer edges of Penny’s right breast and working her way in slowly. “So,” she said as she went, “I need you to tell me if anything hurts while I do this. Anything at all.”

Penny focused on her breath like she did during yoga. “Okay. The lump didn’t hurt when I found it, though. That’s a good sign, right?”

“Painful breasts are definitely symptomatic of certain things, so the absence of pain can help us rule some things out.” Penny noted that she hadn’t exactly answered the question. “Okay, nothing abnormal in that one. Now, can you show me where the lump is?”

Penny raised her left arm and, with her right hand, touched the tissue on the side of her breast, near her armpit. “Right here.”

Anna replaced Penny’s fingers with her own. She moved them gently over and around the lump, feeling it from every direction. She pressed on it gently and asked Penny if it hurt to do that, to which Penny replied no. After a few more passes over the remainder of Penny’s left breast, Anna said, “Okay, go ahead and sit up. I’ll be back in a second. You can put your clothes back on.”

Penny searched Anna’s expression carefully for any hint of concern, but couldn’t get a read before the young doctor left the room. She realized just then how cold she was, and threw her clothes back on. But then, there was nothing to do but wait for Anna to come back in, tell her there was nothing to worry about, and that the thing would disappear on its own. Then she could go home, take a shower, and do the laundry she’d been neglecting for a week, constricting bras and all. After a few impossibly long minutes, Anna returned to the room carrying a glossy Planned Parenthood branded folder under her arm.

“Okay, Penny,” she said, sitting at the desk. “So, a couple things. First, and I know this is a terrible way to start, but it needs to be said: don’t panic.”

Penny bit her nails. “You’re right. That’s a terrible way to start.”

“I’m sorry,” Anna said, an apologetic look on her face. “It’s just that sometimes when I talk about this kind of thing, women freak out before I can finish.”

Penny’s heart started to race. What the hell kind of news was she about to get that would make her panic? Everything around her seemed blurry, and she had to focus to hear what Anna was saying.

“...and I can give you a referral for a couple different clinics that do those tests. They have sliding scales for fees, too. Would you like to go somewhere closer to Pasadena or—”

Penny held up a shaking hand. “Wait, I’m sorry...can you—can you start over?”

Anna looked as though she had seen this reaction before. Her eyes met Penny’s. “Basically, it comes down to this: I’d like for you to have a mammogram and possibly an ultrasound. Given that there’s no known history of breast cancer in your family, I’m inclined to think it’s a cyst, but to be sure, I’d like to give you a referral. And, as I said, there are several clinics that do sliding scales for fees.”

The feeling Penny had in her chest could only be described as a boa constrictor tightening around her lungs, like she couldn’t get enough air. She felt like she might cry, and it wasn’t until Anna handed her a tissue that she realized she already was.

“I’m—I’m sorry,” she said, her voice quaking.

Anna put a hand on Penny’s forearm. “It’s totally normal to be scared. I’d be scared, too. But I promise, even though it sounds terrible, it’s just a precaution.”

“But isn’t it—aren’t those tests for, you know...older women?”

Anna shook her head. “You’d be surprised how many younger women have them. It’s routine for older women, but in younger women, it’s diagnostic. It’s no different from when you have a pap test for a problem rather than just your yearly exam.”

Penny nodded, although this information didn’t really make her feel any better. Two weeks ago, she had been perfectly fine, and now she was watching a doctor who looked barely older than her write a referral for a mammogram. What was happening? Where had her life gone?

Anna put the paperwork she’d filled out into the folder and handed it to Penny. “All the information you need is in there. Do you have any questions? Anything at all?”

 _Yeah,_ Penny thought. _How do I get out of this nightmare?_

“No, I think I’m good, at least for now. You said, um...you said there were places closer to Pasadena?”

“Yes,” Anna replied. “I wrote them down for you. When you call to make the appointment, tell them you were referred.”

Penny turned the folder over in her hands, staring at it as if it were about to burst into flames. She suddenly felt the need to run from the room, as if the walls were closing in. “Okay, I—um—I have to—” She motioned toward the door, unable to finish her thought. Anna stood up and opened the door for Penny. When they reached the front desk, Anna put a hand on Penny’s shoulder.

“It was good to meet you. And I meant what I said—if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call. We’ll get your test results to you in a couple days.”

Penny felt slightly guilty for her sudden change in demeanor. But it was all she could do to make it out the door and back to the car before she fell into the pieces she had barely been holding together.

* * *

“I simply don’t understand,” Sheldon said as he, Raj, and Howard sat down at their table in the Caltech cafeteria. “Why in the world would they cast Paul Rudd to play Ant-Man?”

“You’re right,” Raj replied, to Sheldon’s surprise. “They should have cast him as Captain America, since he _never ages_.”

Howard sighed. “I don’t know whether to be more concerned about the idea of Paul Rudd being Captain America or by your obvious man-crush on him.”

“Whatever, dude,” Raj said. “When you’re fifty years old, you’ll have a receding hairline and a beer gut. When Paul Rudd is fifty years old, he’ll look thirty.”

Before Howard could shoot back a reply that he would have a brisket gut rather than a beer gut, Sheldon said, “If we could get back to the issue at hand, the reason Paul Rudd is wrong for the role of Ant-Man is the same reason Ryan Reynolds was wrong for Green Lantern. Their looks are an attempt to compensate for their atrocious acting skills. Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth get passes because their characters are _supposed_ to have traditionally appealing masculine features.”

“I have news for you,” Raj said, clearly offended on behalf of Paul Rudd and Ryan Reynolds. “Green Lantern didn’t suck because of Ryan Reynolds.”

Howard laughed. “I agree. The only reason that movie made any money at all was because women and Raj paid to see Ryan Reynolds in skintight leather.”

Raj ignored Howard’s dig at his sexuality. “Anyway, have you heard from Leonard? Did he make it to England?”

Sheldon swallowed the bite of his turkey sandwich—his designated Wednesday substitute lunch, if the cafeteria ran out of chicken salad—and nodded. “I can say with certainty that his plane arrived safely in London. I followed his flight with an app on my phone.”

“But have you talked to him?” Howard asked.

“No, although I’m not surprised. I’m sure he’s already at sea,” Sheldon mused. “I wouldn’t talk to him if I were overseas.”

“Lucky bastard...” Howard muttered.

“He’s probably on the boat already,” Raj said. “Did he say how often he would check in?”

“He said that he would try,” Sheldon replied, “but that he wasn’t sure how much time he would have or what quality of wireless connectivity would be available.”

“And if he does have time on his hands, I’m guessing he won’t be talking to Sheldon,” Howard added. “How’d Penny take it?”

“Take what?”

Howard rolled his eyes. “The Sword of Gryffindor.”

There was a beat, and then Sheldon asked, “Was that sarcasm?”

“Oh my God,” Howard said, “He’s finally picking up on it.”

“Must be Penny’s influence,” Raj said, and turned back to Sheldon. “So answer the question. How is she doing with Leonard leaving?”

The question unnerved him for some unexplainable reason. “I haven’t seen her since we left him at the airport. But Amy has spoken to her, and we have exchanged text messages.”

“How is it possible that you live across the hall from her and haven’t seen her since Sunday?” Howard asked. But just after that, his phone dinged with an incoming text. He looked at it and stood up at once. “Sorry, guys, I have to go. Apparently, there’s been an issue with the rover.”

He assumed Sheldon would have made a snarky comment about his competency as an engineer or about engineering as a whole, but Sheldon didn’t seem altogether interested—which, Howard realized, was probably ideal, anyway. So he picked up his tray, mumbled a quick goodbye, and took off for his lab.

Raj looked at Sheldon. “You okay?”

Sheldon seemed to snap out of his trance. “I’m sorry, what?” He glanced at Howard’s empty seat. “Where did Howard go?”

“Okay, so that answers my question...” Raj said under his breath. “Sheldon, I asked if you were okay.”

“I’m fine.” This response didn’t surprise Raj. Sheldon would talk about his _feelings_ all day—when something irritated him, for example, or personal slights he felt others had made against him—but when it came to _emotions_ , he may as well have been a Body Snatcher.

“Okay, well, then how is Penny? Did she go to the doctor?”

“I thought you didn’t want to talk about Penny’s health issues,” Sheldon said flatly.

“I don’t need specifics. I just want to know if she’s feeling better.”

Sheldon sighed and set down his fork. He hated conversations like this. It felt entirely too much like gossip. “It seems that Penny has been experiencing side effects from her chosen method of contraception. She was waiting until Leonard departed for England to go to the doctor, presumably because she wanted to engage in—”

Raj held up a hand. “Okay, that’s more than enough information. Hey, by the way, are we still doing Halo nights now that Leonard is gone?”

Sheldon furrowed his brow. “Why wouldn’t we? It’s not as if Leonard is necessary to successfully play Halo. In fact, now that he’s gone, teams will be much easier to form.”

“You’re probably right,” Raj said, smirking. “Besides, Leonard isn’t the one who blows you up.”

Sheldon glared at Raj, but then a thought occurred to him. “And Penny won’t be either,” he said, in a self-satisfied tone. “Because I call dibs on her.”


	6. Playing Nice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why hello!
> 
> This chapter involved a hell of a lot of research, man. And by research, I mean discussing Halo with my brother and a friend who also plays, and then getting myself an Xbox One account so I could play it myself. I haven't been able to play more than one game thus far, but man, I read a WHOLE lot about it, and I've tried to make it as realistic as I could. If I fubared it, I apologize - just kind of suspend disbelief for a while. :) I gotta admit, of all the stories I've written, this is both the most complicated and the most fun to research.
> 
> Since that last chapter, I've gotten so many kind comments and bookmarks, and I cannot even begin to express how happy I am every day that I wake up and see that people are enjoying this story. Especially since this month has been difficult personally, it means the absolute world to me that my "therapy" is something that can give others joy.
> 
> Please enjoy the latest chapter, and I'll be back soon with another.
> 
> ***  
> Playlist is here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0GG8S8kfhiQCYOz7if2oKr?si=d9kkYUXjRTikI7oxZdubkw
> 
> Song: "Cry Pretty" by Carrie Underwood

If there was one thing Amy Farrah Fowler loved most about Sheldon Cooper, it was that he was a creature of habit. She never had to guess where he was, what he was doing, or what he would likely want to do on any given day—sometimes at any given _time_ of day. It made at least one part of dating him easier. So, it came as no surprise that he wanted to continue Halo night as usual. That said, Leonard’s absence would require a bit of an adjustment to the normal course of the evening. Since a fourth person was required to play teams, Penny wouldn’t be able to do her usual destroy-and-dash. Therefore, Amy and Bernadette proposed switching girls’ night from post-Halo wine to happy hour cocktails.

Penny was completely fine with the switch. Her present health concerns notwithstanding, sometimes, she resented what seemed like an obligation to socialize with the girls after playing video games with the guys. She loved her girlfriends, of course, but sometimes she just wanted to spend more time with the guys chasing virtual versions of each other around a screen, yelling and cursing and laughing all at once. It was such a wonderful release of pent-up aggression, whereas having drinks with the girls involved some level of emotional effort which, while cathartic, sometimes felt intrusive and exhausting. Happy hour at least provided a definitive time limit during which she would need to put on her “actress hat” and pretend everything was fine.

Except for the fact that she had forgotten that Amy, who had arrived at the bar before Bernadette, knew about the doctor’s appointment—at least, the fact that Penny had gone to one. They ordered margaritas, chips, and salsa, and after a few minutes of each of them asking the other about work, Amy said, “So, did they fix the problem?”

“Sorry, what?” Penny asked.

“With your birth control. Did they change anything?”

Penny’s eye twitched a little. “Oh, yeah. Right. Yeah, they changed it to a different—a different pill.”

“What were you on before? Not that I have ever had occasion to use hormonal contraceptives, as my menstrual cycles have never been problematic—”

“Amy! Seriously?”

Oblivious to Penny’s attempt to shut down the conversation about periods, Amy said, “Seriously. In any case, my mother would never have allowed me to have it, even for such issues.”

This got Penny’s attention. “Your mom wouldn’t even let you have the pill for other reasons? Like, cramps or migraines or something?”

Amy took a sip of her margarita, her long, ashy hair forming a curtain around her face. “No, she always said that she didn’t want to, quote, invite the foxes into the hen house.”

Penny winced, taking way more than a sip of her own drink. “So you _still_ aren’t on birth control?”

“No,” Amy said, “but I suppose I ought to look into it soon.”

“Look into what soon?” Bernadette asked, appearing out of nowhere. She very nearly threw herself onto the third bar stool. “What are we looking into?”

“Birth control for Amy!” Penny said, flagging down the server to put in another round. She was happy to pay for as many drinks as necessary to keep the conversation off of her, or, failing that, get her friends so tipsy that they would want to duck out early.

Bernadette’s eyebrows shot up. “Are you and Sheldon finally going to take the plunge?”

“Actually, I think it’d be Sheldon taking the plunge,” Penny said, smirking.

Amy turned bright pink. “We haven’t discussed it as such. But we’ve been dating for quite some time now, and I think it’s probably a good idea to plan for the future.”

“Yeah, that way you don’t end up having to plan for Plan B,” Bernadette replied. “Are you thinking the pill?”

“I don’t know,” Amy said. “I recently read a study that suggested hormonal contraceptives increase the risk of breast cancer by fifty percent.”

Penny almost choked on the tortilla chip she had just put in her mouth. She finished the rest of her drink in an effort to wash it down, while Amy and Bernadette looked at her strangely.

“Penny? You okay?” Bernadette asked.

“Yeah, I—I’m sorry,” Penny replied, grabbing the untouched glass of water in front of her. Once she was able to breathe normally again, she said, “I just swallowed wrong, that’s all. Go on, what were you saying?”

Hesitantly, Amy continued, “Yes. As I was saying, the study seemed to suggest that certain forms of birth control—those containing progestin or estrogen—may increase the risk of breast cancer, even in younger women.”

“Wow,” Penny said thoughtfully, trying to maintain her composure. “So, should we just...not be using birth control?”

“Oh, no, I wouldn’t say that. They have many benefits, including reducing the risk of uterine and ovarian cancer.”

“Yeah, and besides,” Bernadette added, “it’s not like breast cancer is common in women our age. It’s once you hit the big 4-0 that you need to be concerned. Unless there’s a history in your family, I guess.”

Penny wondered if either of them had any history of breast cancer in their families but knew that asking would invite questions that she wasn’t prepared to answer. “Well, I can tell you from experience that the IUD is the way to go. Best decision I ever made.”

Amy’s eyebrow quirked. Hadn’t Penny just been to the doctor to switch her birth control because her then-existing method had been causing unwanted side effects? She was sure Penny had said they switched her to a different pill. And even if she _had_ just switched to an IUD, she wouldn’t know whether it was a good decision or not after only a few hours. She would have asked for clarification, but she didn’t know whether Penny had mentioned anything to Bernadette about her issue.

“Howie and I just stick to condoms,” Bernadette said. “When you work in pharmaceuticals, you want to take as few of them as possible.”

“Okay, that’s about as much as I ever needed to hear about Howard’s junk,” Penny said. Somehow, the idea of Sheldon having sex wasn’t as creepy or weird as Howard—probably because Sheldon had never made any kind of sexual advance on her. On the other hand, within ten seconds of their meeting, Howard had made a not-so-subtle move on her, while she was wearing nothing but a towel. Penny always thought she would regret introducing him to Bernadette, but as it turned out, they were a perfect fit.

“New topic,” Amy said. “Did Leonard make it to England?”

“He did,” Penny said, as the server returned with three more margaritas for the table. “He called me the minute he landed. Of course, it was five in the morning here when he called, so I didn’t answer. But he left a voicemail.” She pulled out her phone and hit the play button on the message, setting it to speaker.

_Hi, Penny. It’s Leonard. As you probably know, since, you know...caller ID. And my voice. Anyway, I’m off the plane and walking to baggage claim now, but I wanted to let you know that I landed okay. The flight was fine, although my ears popped more than usual. I miss you already. I hope we can talk at least once before I get on the boat. I’ll try to call you later when you’re awake. I love you._

“That’s so—” Bernadette began, but Penny held up a finger.

 _Oh, one other thing. If you could just go over to the apartment once in a while and water the cactus I have in my room, I’d appreciate it. I asked Sheldon to do it before I left, but apparently there’s some stupid clause in the Roommate Agreement that says I need to provide written plant care instructions two days in advance of any vacation I take._ _I tried to reason with him, but I don’t need to tell you how that worked out._

Penny put her phone back in her bag and shook her head. “I Googled how to take care of a cactus, and it needs watering, like, once a week. That’s literally it.”

“It’s probably best for Sheldon not to take care of it anyway,” Amy said, her words slurring just a touch.

“Why?” said Penny and Bernadette in unison.

Amy leaned in and motioned for the two of them to come closer too. They followed suit, and Amy whispered conspiratorially, “He can’t keep plants alive. He has no feeling for botany.”

The other girls gasped. “Wait,” Penny said, holding a hand up. “You’re telling us that Sheldon ‘Beautiful Mind Genius Guy’ Cooper...isn’t good at everything?”

“I will deny ever having said that,” Amy replied. “But look around the apartment when you’re there next. The only plant in there is that dumb avocado tree that Sheldon has been trying to grow, but Leonard’s the one who takes care of it. Sheldon will never admit that, though.” She looked around as though she expected him to walk up behind her. “This might be the alcohol talking, but...”

Bernadette drank what seemed like a quarter of her margarita at once, enraptured at this confessional from a slightly tipsy Amy. “But what?”

“Sometimes, I’m tempted to point out to him that he’s not good at everything,” Amy said, a little hesitantly. “Don’t get me wrong. In many ways, he is a perfectly fine partner. Obviously, we are intellectually compatible, and he’s thoughtful in his own way. But he can be so—”

“Obnoxious?” Bernadette suggested.

“You said it, not me. I’m glad I’ve learned how to handle him better, though,” Amy said, looking at Penny. “You’ve been instrumental in that.”

At first, Penny didn’t quite know how to respond to that. Amy was obviously a bit inebriated—not unexpected, since her tolerance was about that of a sixteen-year-old—but Penny had never heard her express displeasure in her relationship with Sheldon. At most, Amy would gently scold him for inappropriate comments or behavior toward others. She never seemed to get upset with him for how he acted toward _her_ , though.

But Penny understood, probably more than anyone outside of Leonard, the kind of frustration Sheldon could inspire. He had, after all, become convinced she had a sexually transmitted disease because he talked to Raj about her private health issues. She’d had to lie—to him and to Amy—just to get him to stop acting like a nutcase. Even now, despite originally hoping she could bail early, she felt a bit of resentful of having to be back home at a certain time to avoid getting a “strike,” as Sheldon put it.

She knew he didn’t intend to be the way he was, but he still _was_ that way. And maybe it was the result of hearing that Amy felt similarly, or maybe it was the second margarita doing the thinking, but suddenly Penny felt like maybe he deserved a little payback.

“I have an idea,” she said to Amy. “But I don’t want to get you in trouble.”

“Oh, this I gotta hear,” Bernadette replied.

“Well, Leonard is the one who takes care of that plant, right?” Penny asked.

Amy nodded slowly. “Yeah?”

With a wicked smirk and a gleam in her eye, Penny explained her plan. And for just a moment, it didn’t take any effort to be herself.

* * *

“When’s Penny supposed to be here?” Raj asked as Sheldon set four plates down on the dining room table.

“She is to arrive no later than eight o’clock,” Sheldon replied. “I was informed that ‘happy hour’ is between five and seven o’clock. Allotting for travel time and the possibility of traffic, she should have plenty of time to arrive home and change her clothes before coming here.”

While Sheldon headed back into the kitchen, Howard sat down on the floor and grabbed a slice of pizza, folding it in half. “Do I want to know why she has to change clothes before she comes over?”

“Germs,” Sheldon said simply, opening the refrigerator to procure bottles of water for each of them.

Raj raised an eyebrow. “Sheldon, she works at the Cheesecake Factory. You _do_ realize how—” Howard smacked him in the arm. “Ow! What was that for?”

“Dude,” Howard muttered, “do you _really_ want to point out to him how many germs are in the one restaurant we can get him to agree to go to?”

“Fair point,” Raj replied.

Sheldon returned to the room and handed each of them a bottle. He took his customary seat on the left side of the couch and put a slice of pizza on a plate, blotting it with a napkin. Howard rolled his eyes and said, “Okay, first, who blots pizza? And second, what could Penny be doing that would give her so many germs that she has to change clothes?”

“In answer to your first question, there is nothing wrong with blotting the grease from pizza. It reduced the frequency of accidental grease stains on one’s clothing. I know how to pre-treat stains, of course, but I’d prefer not to have to—”

“That was a rhetorical question, Sheldon,” Howard said, his annoyance growing by the minute. “Now, for the last time: what has Penny been doing that requires her to change clothes?”

Sheldon sighed, momentarily disappointed in himself. He’d been doing well with picking up on sarcasm for the last few weeks. It annoyed him that he couldn’t seem to grasp the concept entirely. And it annoyed him that he cared about grasping it at all. “I was informed by Amy that Penny had a doctor’s appointment today.”

With anyone else, Howard and Raj would have needed further explanation, but with Sheldon, they understood immediately. In Sheldon’s eyes, Penny may as well have been radioactive until she changed the clothes she’d been wearing at her appointment. Howard quickly polished off his slice of pizza and stood up, excusing himself to the bathroom to, as he put it, handle his business before Penny’s arrival.

As soon as Howard was out of earshot, Raj asked, “Did she go to the doctor I think she went to?”

“If you mean to ask if she went to a gynecologist, I assume so,” Sheldon said. “She informed me, through Amy, that the problem related to her hormonal contraception, and not, as we believed, a sexually transmitted disease.”

“I hope she was able to get some answers. I’m also glad I’m not a woman.”

It was not lost on Sheldon that only a few years ago, there had been no women of any significance in any of their lives, outside of familial relations. Sometimes this fact overwhelmed him in a way none of the others could really comprehend. It had taken a long time for him to consider Leonard his friend, and the addition of Raj and Howard had taken even longer. It would stand to reason, then, that it should have been even more difficult to accept Penny when she came along; not only was she new, she was female. Bernadette and Amy had been easier to accept as well, but they were scientists first, females second.

Penny was unlike anyone else with whom he had ever socialized. She was, of course, the standard by which society judged beauty—blonde, athletic, ideal hip-to-waist-to-bust proportions—but that was immaterial to him. She was uninterested in comics, science fiction, science, or trains. Neither highly educated nor academically inclined, her only career goal was a generalized desire to be an actress, although Sheldon had rarely seen her be proactive in achieving that goal. Her apartment generally looked like it had been hit by one of the tornadoes that swept through East Texas every summer, and she had atrocious table manners. She was someone he should have—and in most cases would have—considered ordinary, certainly not someone he would want to put in the effort to get to know.

The odd thing was that he hadn’t put in effort. It had just happened.

“I agree,” he finally said to Raj. “I, too, am glad you’re not a woman. Three of them in this group is more than enough.”

Meanwhile, Penny arrived back at her apartment, having all but forgotten about how she’d spent her morning. The girls’ night had been more enjoyable than she’d thought it would be, and she was looking forward to spending the rest of her evening with the guys, eating pizza and participating in the one nerdy vice she allowed herself. Well, aside from that whole _Age of Conan_ debacle, which she’d forbidden anyone to discuss.

But as she was about to head across the hall, she remembered that she had agreed to change clothes before entering Sheldon’s apartment. For a moment, she thought that since he hadn’t seen her that morning, he would have no way of knowing if she actually did it. But then she remembered who she was dealing with; it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility that Sheldon had installed a hidden camera somewhere in the hallway—or worse, in her apartment, given his lack of boundaries.

So, with a dramatic sigh that no one else could hear, she marched back into her room and grabbed the first pair of jeans and t-shirt that she could find. Both items were no cleaner than the ones she’d worn to the clinic—they were probably less clean, really, since they’d been on her floor for a week—but Sheldon hadn’t said that she had to wear freshly laundered clothes. He had only demanded she change out of the clothes she had worn to the doctor’s office. _For a guy_ _who’s so hung up on rules, he missed the fine print on this one,_ she thought.

She stopped to grab her watermelon lip gloss from her purse, but the minute she opened it, she was confronted with the folder from Planned Parenthood. She hadn’t bothered to open it in the car, and even if she had tried, she had been too emotional to comprehend anything that might have been inside it. It wasn’t as if she had time to read it now, either; the clock reminded her that she was already running late. But without thinking about it, she removed the folder from her bag and held it for a moment, fingers grazing over its glossy, purple surface. Hesitantly, as though it might bite, she opened it.

Immediately, she saw the words “What You Should Know About Breast Cancer” printed on a bright pink brochure.

She slammed the folder shut. She couldn’t deal with this now.

She couldn’t deal with this ever.

Throwing the folder onto the kitchen counter, she took a deep breath and drew her shoulders back. There would be plenty of time for her to read through the contents of that folder and make the appointment for the tests. Right now, she needed to go to an imaginary world where the only body parts she had to worry about were the ones she was aiming for with a virtual gun.

* * *

“You want me to what?”

“I want you,” Sheldon repeated, “to be on my team.”

Penny wasn’t sure she had heard Sheldon correctly when he’d asked her to be his teammate for the first round of Halo. In all the years they’d been playing, he had _never_ asked to play alongside him. She looked at him blankly, and then turned to Howard and Raj.

“He called dibs,” Raj said.

“Excuse me?”

“Dibs,” Sheldon said. “It refers to one having the first choice of—”

“I know what dibs _means_ , Sheldon,” Penny said, still trying to wrap her head around this turn of events. “I just didn’t expect you to...call them. On me.”

“Well,” Howard said, “to be fair, Leonard called dibs on you years ago, but I’m betting he didn’t have Halo in mind when he did it.”

Penny glared at him. “Okay, first off, just because Leonard isn’t here doesn’t mean you get to start being gross again. Do you want me to tell Bernadette about the little incident that happened two years ago?”

“She refers, of course, to the day you claim to have slipped in the bathtub when Penny broke your nose,” Sheldon clarified, as if Howard didn’t know. Howard didn’t reply, but he looked sufficiently chastened in Penny’s opinion, so she let it go.

“And second,” she continued, “what makes anyone think they get to call dibs on me? What if I wanted to pick my own partner this time?”

Raj stood up. “I agree with Penny! You two don’t own her.”

She crossed her arms and stared him down, too. “Oh, please. You’re just trying to make up for suggesting I had—” She stopped short, remembering that Howard didn’t know a thing about her appointment, and the last thing she needed was for him to start making gynecology-related comments.

“Had what?” Howard asked, much to Penny’s chagrin.

“To lose weight,” Raj said quickly. “We were shopping and I—I gave her a bigger size pants than she wears. It wasn’t good. She almost broke _my_ nose, too.” He glanced at Penny, and her face relaxed.

Howard winced. “Yeah, I’m surprised she didn’t. Bernadette would have.”

“Bernadette is also scarier than me,” Penny said.

“All right,” Sheldon said. “Now that we’ve established that both Penny and Bernadette are both more masculine than the rest of us, can we begin the game?”

“Wait!” Howard exclaimed. “We never decided on teams.”

They all looked expectantly at Penny. She caught sight of the avocado plant in the kitchen, and realized she should probably stay on Sheldon’s good side.

“Okay, Sheldon,” she said. “Just this once...I’ll help you kick someone’s ass rather than kick yours.”

Howard groaned. “Penny, you’ve seen how he is when he plays! He doesn’t listen to anyone, he’ll let you die if it means getting revenge on someone—”

“Funny, you don’t have a problem with getting revenge on _him_ when I’m playing on _your_ team,” she shot back, and Howard didn’t have a reply that was quick enough to be effective.

Sheldon smiled smugly and sat down in his spot, victorious before having even touched a controller. “All right, now, which map shall we play? Ivory Tower? Ascension?”

“How about Lockout?” Raj suggested.

“Oh, we haven’t played that one in a while!” Penny said. “That should be interesting, especially since Sheldon and I are playing together. I’m pretty sure last time we played that one, I was with Raj, and—”

“And even though Sheldon had the sniper rifle, you beat him to death with a flag!”

“That wasn’t fair,” Sheldon said. “Raj was practically begging me to shoot him down below the tower!”

“And yet you still died a bloody, basic death.”

Before Sheldon could argue, Penny grabbed her own controller and plopped down next to him. “Okay, boys, let’s go. Mama’s got some stress to take out on someone.”

* * *

“Come on, Raj, get back here!”

Raj smashed his controller buttons. “Damnit, damnit, damnit, I’m trying, but Penny keeps—” Suddenly, his character’s head exploded. “Doing that,” he finished.”

Sheldon laughed. “That’s right, stay down!” He glanced at Penny. “It’s refreshing, not having to worry about that happening to me.”

“It’s refreshing not _wanting_ it to happen to you,” Penny replied.

“Speak for yourself,” Raj muttered, waiting to respawn. At least they had infinite lives; otherwise, Penny and Sheldon would have won within the first five minutes of playing. First, she’d hidden in Sniper Alley, and when both Raj and Howard had realized where she was, she used a Superbounce to get on top of the gravity lift tower, picking them both off yet again. As soon as his character respawned, Raj took off out of his and Howard’s home base, heading back toward the spot where Howard and Penny were dancing around one another. Howard had made it into the Sniper Tower, and was attempting to find Penny beneath him, determined to take her out.

Unfortunately, Howard was so concerned with finding Penny, and Raj was so focused on coming to his aid, that neither of them were paying attention to Sheldon. The moment Raj ran out, Sheldon popped out from a hiding place on the corner of the map and retrieved the flag from the base.

“Got it!” he exclaimed, and Howard took his eyes off his part of the screen just long enough for Penny to blow up the explosive barrels behind the platform.

“Damnit!” Howard yelled, rubbing his forehead while waiting for his character to respawn. “Raj, where the hell are you? Go find Sheldon!”

“Don’t worry, Sheldon, I’ve got him!” Penny leaned forward and gritted her teeth, ready to hunt down Raj for a second time.

A shot flew by Sheldon’s character, barely missing him, and he realized Raj hadn’t gotten far enough away from the base to give him a clear path toward his own. “Sooner rather than later, Penny. I’ve only got a flag to defend myself, and I’m not nearly so skilled with melee weapons as are you.”

“She’s on your ass, she’s on your ass!” Howard shouted, as he saw Penny coming up behind Raj. His character still hadn’t respawned, and he was powerless to do anything but yell warnings.

“Not helpful, Howard!” Raj replied, frantically searching the screen for a sign of Sheldon. He knew he’d have to come across him at some point and got onto the gravity lift. “What _would_ be helpful is if you respawned already!”

“I’m not making the mistake you did! Once you kill Sheldon, the flag will be back here, and then—”

_BOOM!_

Penny had thrown a frag grenade at him just as he got off the lift, and he saw Sheldon run right past him, falling through a drop-down hole nearby. From there, it was a few more feet toward Sheldon and Penny’s home base, and the flag had been officially captured. Penny let out a shriek of victory and, forgetting herself, threw her arms around Sheldon in a congratulatory hug.

There were four women in the world with whom Sheldon was comfortable having physical contact. Three of them were in his family (his Meemaw, mother, and sister), and the fourth was Penny. Ironically, the first hug he’d shared with Penny was one he had initiated. She’d given him the priceless gift of Leonard Nimoy’s used napkin, and it was the most precious thing he had to offer her in return. Although it wasn’t entirely comfortable for him, she had earned it. The hugs they’d shared since then had been at her insistence, and, while he still stiffened when she did it, at least he didn’t feel the need to shower immediately thereafter.

As for Amy, he didn’t _mind_ hugging her, but he certainly didn’t feel _comfortable_ with it. He sometimes thought that it should have been easier to hug his girlfriend than his neighbor, but reasoned that he had known Penny much longer, so of course he was less anxious with her.

She released Sheldon from the hug and stood up, stretching her arms over her head. “Well, boys, it’s been fun, but I’ve got an early shift tomorrow, so I should get to bed.”

“Aw, come on, you’re not even going to let us rematch?” Howard whined.

“As much as I wish I could earn a living playing Halo,” she said, heading for the door, “I don’t think the landlord will care about my kill count if I can’t pay the rent.”

“Actually,” Sheldon said, “there are in fact Halo tournaments in which you can win prize money.”

“Yeah, and you’d have a competitive edge,” Raj added.

“Oh yeah? What’s that?”

Howard smirked. “Imagine an entire convention center full of nerds, and you in a miniskirt. How well do you think any of those guys are gonna play?”

Penny rolled her eyes. “Goodnight, Howard.” Then, she gave Sheldon and Raj a nod. “Goodnight, you two.”

Upon entering her apartment, she went straight to the kitchen for a bottle of water. She stood idly against the fridge as she drank, thinking about her day. For the past few hours, she’d been able to feel normal again, even though nothing about the evening had been normal at all. Leonard wasn’t there, she’d been on Sheldon’s team, and, even better, had played well with him. In fact, she realized, he hadn’t even gloated after they won—completely unlike him!

She tossed the empty water bottle into the recycling bin and started toward the bedroom, when she noticed the shine of a glossy purple folder under the kitchen lights. It was like a siren call, haunting and mesmerizing at once, its contents beckoning her. She glanced at the clock above her apartment door. It really was getting late, and she still needed to shower. But there was something else she needed to do first.

* * *

In the span of ten minutes, she’d read the word “breast” more times than she had in her entire life. There were a half-dozen pamphlets and information sheets on her bed, and she had no better idea what might be going on with her body. All she did know was that after reading about mammograms, she had no interest in having one. It sounded entirely unnecessary and painful, especially for a lump that, itself, was causing her no pain whatsoever. She would much prefer the ultrasound, but then, she would much prefer not to need _any_ testing.

She refused to even acknowledge the pamphlets that featured the word “cancer.”

The only thing remaining in the folder was the referral Anna had written, attached to the list of clinics in Pasadena that could perform the procedures. That was, ironically, the most confusing thing in the entire packet of information. How was she supposed to pick a clinic? Did they have Yelp reviews?

She had felt normal that evening. Relaxed. Her mind had been quiet.

And now she was back where she’d started her day: consumed by fear. Fear of the unknown. Fear of the known.

Fear of her own body.

 _To hell with that,_ she thought. She yanked her shirt over her head and unhooked her bra, almost violently. Then, she marched into her bathroom and stared at herself in the mirror.

Never in her life had she been ashamed of her body, never felt uncomfortable in her skin. It was how she got drinks paid for when she was broke, how she made the best tips at work. Hell, she’d been trying to build a career on it for years now.

But now, she felt like she was staring into a funhouse mirror.

The lump was small. She couldn’t see it. But it was there.

And all she could do was stare into the abyss that her life was about to become, mascara streaking her cheeks as she cried for the second time that day.

Her phone buzzing startled her back to reality. She reached into her back pocket and pulled it out. _May I call dibs on you permanently?_ Sheldon had typed.

Penny blinked a few times, not quite processing. _What?_

While she was getting her pajamas on, a reply came in. She brushed her teeth, washed her face, and climbed into bed before reading it.

_I would like for us to be permanent Halo teammates until Leonard is home. But you made clear this evening that dibs should not be called without first requesting the permission of the person on whom one would like to call them._

Sheldon was the only person she knew who cared enough to make even text messages grammatically correct. _How do Howard and Raj feel about that?_

 _Their permission is not required here,_ he replied, _so I felt no need to ask them for their thoughts._

It suddenly struck her that in all the nights they’d played video games together, none of the guys ever asked whose team she wanted to be on. They all just argued over her, and she had always been too busy being flattered to think about whether she wanted to pick her own teammate. The only one who always lost was Sheldon, mostly because Howard, Leonard, and Raj liked to irritate him.

Who would have thought, then, that Sheldon would be the first one to ask her opinion on the matter? She almost felt guilty about being so resentful of him during happy hour.

The month of January had just moved from bizarre to downright batshit.

She glanced at the folder, now laying on her nightstand. She knew she had some difficult decisions ahead of her. But this, thankfully, wasn’t one of them.

 _Sure,_ she replied. _But we’re gonna have to figure out a better strategy than ‘hide outside their base.’ I’m pretty sure that’s only gonna work once._


	7. In the Dark

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Helloooooo!
> 
> First off, thank you to EVERY. SINGLE. AMAZING. PERSON. who has left comments on this story. I am overwhelmed and humbled by the interest and by the time you take to tell me what you think. I love writing this story, and I write it especially for you all.
> 
> I'm sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. I took the bar exam in October and I just found out that I passed (!!!) so I've been busy setting up a law firm of my very own. Plus, I hand write my drafts, so it takes me a bit longer than it might if I typed them. I hope I made this worth the wait.
> 
> I wanted to focus a little bit more on Sheldon and Amy's relationship in this chapter. I'm trying to make it somewhere between what it was when they started (where she was as asexual as he was) and where they ended up (a relatively normal couple, all things considered). But don't worry, there's still plenty of Penny involved, too; it was a bit easier for me to write her part of the chapter because I've actually experienced what she goes through in this appointment. 
> 
> ***  
> Playlist is here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0GG8S8kfhiQCYOz7if2oKr?si=d9kkYUXjRTikI7oxZdubkw
> 
> Song: "Superman (It's Not Easy)" by Five for Fighting

Although she had plenty of options in Pasadena, Penny decided to go to Hollywood again to have her mammogram. She wasn’t sure why; it wasn’t as if any of her work friends were going to turn up at a breast imaging clinic. For some reason, she just felt more comfortable going somewhere more anonymous, and if there was anywhere in California to be anonymous, it was Hollywood.

It had taken been little over a week since she had been referred for the mammogram, and with every day that passed, she became more exhausted by having to keep up appearances. Shifts at the restaurant, which had once been tiring but manageable, had become excruciating. By the time she made it home, she felt like her body might break in two. The previous night, she had made it through drinks with the girls before Halo, playing a respectable two rounds before politely excusing herself to go to bed early. She chalked it up to having to cover someone’s early shift at the restaurant the next morning, and nobody questioned it.

Not long after her arrival, she found herself sitting on an examination table, wearing the exact same thing she had worn at her visit to Planned Parenthood—jeans, shoes, and a hospital gown. The nurse had told her to hang up her shirt and bra on the back of the door; she wondered whether they would be there when she got back. Then, she found herself remembering the time Sheldon had stolen her laundry and hung her bras and panties from the telephone wires. He only apologized after she tattled on him to his mother. As angry as she had been with him then—and as much as he had deserved that anger—it had almost been a little fun to fight with him. And, in some screwed up way, it had made her realize that of all the guys, Sheldon was the only one to call her on her bullshit. Howard was too busy trying to sleep with her, Raj was only barely beginning to speak to her, and Leonard, well...

Before she could further contemplate her undergarments and how they related to her friendships, a tall, blonde man with striking blue eyes entered the room. He resembled a life-size, human Ken doll. Somehow, in her preoccupation with what would happen at the appointment, she had missed that the doctor performing the procedures was a man. None of her past gynecologists had been men, and she wasn’t entirely comfortable with the idea. Unfortunately, it was too late to back out now.

“Hi,” he said, his smile warm and inviting. He sat down at the computer and typed for a moment. “I’m Dr. Lambert. Can you confirm your name and date of birth for me?”

“Penny Harris, December 2, 1985.” She suspected she’d be repeating that information to multiple people in the coming hours.

“Perfect. Now, I see from your chart that you’re here for imaging related to a lump in your left breast, is that right?”

She nodded. “Yeah, I—Planned Parenthood sent me. I found the thing a couple weeks ago, and they said they think it’s probably a cyst, but I guess they want to make sure.”

“That’s wise. Did they give you literature on the procedures?”

“They did, but I—um—I’m not sure if I’m ready for it. I mean, I don’t know if reading pamphlets really prepared me for—”

He smiled again and rubbed his hands together, trying to warm them up. “You’re probably right about that. Most women don’t know quite what to expect, even if they’ve read every pamphlet and handout and website they can find. So it’s totally natural to be nervous.”

Somehow, this comforted her. At least she felt slightly less crazy for being so scared. “So, um, how does this work, then?” she asked. “Do you need to do another exam like they did before?”

“Yes, but this time, I’m going to mark on your breast where I feel any abnormalities. That way, the radiologist will know where to focus, and if we have to do an ultrasound or a biopsy, we’ll know exactly where to go.”

“Wait, a biopsy?” Penny asked, recognizing the term from Gray’s Anatomy. “Isn’t that like, needles or something?”

“It involves a needle, yes,” he admitted. “But I promise, it’s not as terrifying as it sounds. And we might not even need to do one. Let’s take it one step at a time, starting with me taking a look at what’s going on in there.”

Penny took a shaky breath and opened the gown, realizing as she did so that Dr. Lambert was the first man she’d ever disrobed in front of who wouldn’t ogle her. That did not, however, stop the burning in her cheeks that spread down to her collarbone. Dr. Lambert worked quickly, performing the same physical examination as every other doctor. When he got to the offending lump, he hummed quietly.

“I don’t think it’s gotten any bigger,” Penny offered, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

“Well, that’s good to know,” Dr. Lambert replied. “I’m going to mark that lump with a Sharpie now, like I explained. There are a couple of other areas I want them to look at too, but—” He saw terror flash in her eyes, and softened his own. “Don’t panic, Penny. Most of the time, it’s just dense tissue, but I want to be sure.”

“I have dense breasts?” she asked. “What does that even mean?”

“Well, we don’t know for sure, but breast tissue is composed of milk glands, milk ducts and supportive tissue—which we call dense tissue—and fatty tissue. Women with dense breasts have more dense tissue than fatty tissue. You’re young and you’ve got low body fat, which both increase the likelihood that your breasts are dense. The thing is, that density might be causing you to feel lumps that are normal, fibrous tissue.”

“How common is that? Dense breasts, I mean.”

“It’s common, and nothing to worry about. It does increase the chance of breast cancer going undetected, but on its face, there’s nothing inherently dangerous about it.”

There was that word again. She tried to pretend she didn’t hear it.

When he was done drawing circles on her chest, Dr. Lambert said, “Okay, Penny, you can go ahead and put your gown back on, and I’ll walk you down to the radiology lab. They’ll do the mammogram, and I’m also going to order an ultrasound just to be sure. Did they discuss payment with you at the front desk?”

She nodded. “Yeah, I make no money. So I guess this is all, to use a phrase from my job, ‘on the house.'”

Dr. Lambert laughed, and it reminded Penny of her father’s laugh. “Okay, come with me.”

She followed him out of the room and down the hallway to a doorway over which a sign for radiology hung. After a few more turns down various halls, he stopped at a door marked “Mammography Room 1,” and turned around to face her.

“Okay, go on in and have a seat. The radiologist should arrive shortly, and when they finish that, they’ll take you over to get the ultrasound done. They’ll bring you back to the room we were just in once they’re finished and we can go over the results.”

“Sounds good. Are you—I mean, will we find out today if there’s something there?”

A compassionate expression crossed his face. “Possible, but a lot depends on the imaging. We’ll see what we can do.” With that, he opened the door and stepped aside to let her past him. “I’ll see you in a bit,” he said, closing the door behind her.

It was cold in this room, much colder than the last, and Penny wished she had a sweatshirt or something to put over the gown until it was time for the test. Thankfully, she didn’t have to wait long before the technician, a woman who looked so much like Amy that Penny had to double-take, showed up. “Hi. I’m Andi. I’ll be doing your mammogram today. Can you confirm your—”

“Penny Harris, December 2, 1985.”

Andi laughed. “Been saying that a lot lately, huh?”

“You could say that,” Penny replied. Then, a bit hesitantly, she said, “This might be a stupid question, but...is this going to hurt? I know all the websites say it doesn’t, but I don’t see how squishing your boobs into pancakes could be anything but painful.”

“I won’t lie,” Andi said, “it’s not the most comfortable thing in the world. But it’s pretty quick, and once it’s over, it’s over. You won’t need any recovery time or anything.”

“You’ve had one, then?”

“I have. History of breast cancer in my family combined with a lump made it necessary. Thankfully, it was just a cyst.”

“That’s good. I’m hoping that’s all it is for me, too. Do you think—I mean, how common—”

Andi gave her a sympathetic smile. “I know what you’re going to ask, but there’s no way for me to answer that. The only way to know is to take the test.”

Penny sighed. She had figured that answer was coming, but was nevertheless disappointed. “So what now?” 

“Well, now, you step over here and we get this done,” Andi said, beckoning Penny over. “You’re not wearing any jewelry, right?”

“Right. They told me no jewelry and no deodorant when I made the appointment. I’m fine with the no jewelry, but wearing no deodorant gives me anxiety.”

“Totally get it,” Andi said. “Now, I’m going to take your gown from you and I’ll put each of your breasts on this plastic platform, one at a time. The other one will come down and compress your breast so we can get clear images. We’ll do it from various angles, and I’ll help you move your body where it needs to be to get the best photos. It shouldn’t take more than fifteen minutes.”

With that, Andi held out her hands to collect Penny’s gown, and as soon as it was off, Penny instinctually wrapped her arms around herself. She felt self-conscious in a way she never did when she was topless around a man. For most women, she thought, it would probably be the other way around. It did not help that her breasts were marked up like one of Sheldon and Leonard’s whiteboards.

Andi adjusted the height of the x-ray machine and placed Penny’s left breast on top of one of the platforms. “Okay, are you ready?”

“I guess.”

“Okay. I’m going to compress now, and when I tell you to, I need you to take a deep breath and hold it until I say release.”

Slowly, the top platform came down on Penny’s breast, squeezing it so that it flattened like a pancake. Andi was right; it wasn’t comfortable, but it also wasn’t the most painful thing she’d ever gone through. But she closed her eyes anyway, not wanting to look at it. It was too weird, foreign, like it had ceased to be part of her body. She almost wished it would.

For the next fifteen minutes, Penny’s upper body was manipulated and moved so that, in the end, images of her breasts from all angles had been captured. She felt a bit sore as she pulled her gown back over her shoulders. “Okay, now we’re going to do the ultrasound. That, I promise you, will be far less unpleasant.”

The only reason this comforted Penny as they walked down the hall was that she didn’t see how things could get any more unpleasant.

The ultrasound room was like the examination room she’d been in when she had arrived that day, except, of course, that it had an ultrasound machine. It was also a bit warmer than the mammogram room. Penny sat down on the examination table and gestured to her gown. “I assume I have to take this off again?”

Andi started preparing the machine. “Just open it up. And then you can go ahead and lay down. Did they tell you anything about how this procedure works?”

“Is it the same thing as what they do for pregnant women?”

“Basically, yes. I’m going to put some gel on your left breast, and then I’ll move the transducer over them. The transducer sends out sound waves and picks up the echoes as they bounce off body tissues. The echoes are made into a picture on a computer screen. You’ll be able to see the images when you go back to see Dr. Lambert.”

“Okay, that doesn’t sound painful at all.” Then, Penny remembered something else. “They—they did say that if you guys think something is weird, that you might need to biopsy?”

“That’s correct. I’ll know more about whether we need to do that after I do the ultrasound. You can have it done today if we need to do it.”

And just like that, Penny realized that things could, in fact, get more unpleasant.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Penny was back in the same office she had started in, waiting for Dr. Lambert to come back to talk to her about the results of the imaging. Surprisingly, despite the fact that this entire visit was about the lump in her breast, she hadn’t thought much of it the entire time. Mostly, she had been focused the actual procedures, committing the experience to memory for reasons she did not quite understand. 

There were three quick knocks at the door, and Penny found herself wondering where the second and third set were before Dr. Lambert opened the door. “Hi, Penny. How you doing?”

“Oh, you know, totally average day,” she quipped. 

He laughed and sat down at the computer next to her chair. “Okay, so we’re gonna take a look at your imaging results, and then we’ll decide if we need to do anything else.” He pulled up her file on the computer and clicked around until Penny could see what looked like x-rays of her breasts on the screen. They were very white—almost entirely white, in fact. 

Dr. Lambert stared at the images for a moment, his face impassive. Finally, she got agitated enough to ask, “So, what do you see?”

“Well,” he began, “you have, as I suspected, extremely dense breasts. All the white you see there is tissue. The problem with dense breast tissue is that it makes it harder to see abnormalities, because abnormalities show up as white spots, too. So from these images, it’s hard for me to tell anything. But that’s why I had you get the ultrasound done.”

“Okay, so where’s that?” 

He clicked a few more buttons and another image popped up, similar to the mammogram, but on this image, you couldn’t see the outline of her breast like in the mammogram. Instead, she just saw a bunch of weird waves...with a dark spot in the middle of them. She searched the doctor’s face for any reaction. He was frowning.

“Okay, so what you’re seeing here on the ultrasound are echoes of—”

“Echoes of sound waves bouncing off the breast. Andi explained it to me,” she said, a little impatiently. “What’s the dot there?”

He turned in his chair and looked at her with his blue eyes and kind face and for the briefest of moments, Penny thought about how much they resembled Sheldon’s.

“All right, I don’t want you to panic—”

Penny remembered the last time a doctor had said that. It had been a little over a week ago, when she was sent here for these tests. “I hate when doctors start sentences that way.”

“I’m sorry. People tend to panic when they hear ‘biopsy.' And that’s what I’d like to do on that lump before you go.”

Penny’s heart sank. This wasn’t supposed to be happening. The only reason people got biopsies was to figure out what was wrong inside their bodies, right? And the fact that he wanted to do one meant that something was wrong. “I—um—why?”

He pointed to the grayish-black spot on the ultrasound. “That spot right there concerns me a bit. It could be nothing. But it’s definitely solid, so I want to do a biopsy and have it sent down to the lab to see what’s going on in there. The good news is, since I can feel the lump easily, I can do fine needle aspiration. It’s quicker and much less painful.”

Penny didn’t know what to say, but she didn’t see what choice she had. “So, what do I need to do?”

“I’m going to go get some supplies. You hop up on the table. All you’re going to need to do is lay as still as you possibly can, and it’ll be over before you know it.

The silence in the room after he left was like a scream in Penny’s ear. Sitting alone with all these unanswered questions was worse than any needle the doctor might come back with. She had been telling herself for weeks that nothing was wrong. The Planned Parenthood appointment was supposed to confirm that, but all it did was raise more questions. The mammogram and ultrasound were supposed to answer those questions, and now she had to have a biopsy. 

The two thoughts she was struggling to keep locked in a trunk in the back of her mind were: would the biopsy give her any answers, and did she really want them?

Dr. Lambert came back in with a syringe in his hand, a nurse following him. Penny laid back on the table and opened her gown without even being asked. It weirdly felt like second nature by that point. The nurse wiped the skin over the lump with an alcohol pad, while Dr. Lambert prepared the syringe.

“One other thing I forgot to mention,” he said once he was done. “The anesthetic actually hurts more than it’s worth for this procedure. If you want, we can numb the area a bit with ice—”

“No, it’s okay. I’ve gotten tattoos, I can handle this.”

He smiled. “All right, then. You ready?”

“Do I have a choice?” 

He hesitated and his expression grew serious. “Penny, if you don’t want to do this, you absolutely have the right to refuse. Of course, I recommend you have the test, but you are ultimately the person who makes the decision about what happens to your body.”

 _If that were true_ , Penny thought, _then I wouldn’t need to be here, would I?_

But she shook her head. “No, I know I need to get it done. Let’s just get it over.

Dr. Lambert studied her face for a moment, and he seemed to be searching for the hint of a lie. But he finally removed the cap from the needle, attached by a tube to the syringe, and placed it just over the lump. The nurse held the syringe, poised to draw back its plunger. 

“Okay, take a deep breath and hold it until I tell you. And stay as still as you can.” 

She inhaled deeply, expanding her lungs, and closed her eyes, not wanting to see what came out of her body. She felt a sharp pinch in her breast and had to concentrate hard to keep still. Dr. Lambert must have noticed, because he said, “It’s okay. Just a bit longer.” Not more than fifteen seconds later, she felt something soft against the spot where the needle had been. “All right, you can breathe.”

All the oxygen left her lungs as Dr. Lambert put a band-aid over the cotton ball on the spot where the needle had been. The nurse was busying herself on the other side of the room, and Penny assumed she had the syringe full of...whatever it was that had been inside the lump. 

“Is—is that it?” 

“That’s it. We’re going to send it off to the lab and you should get a call with the results in a few days.”

His words were a punch to her heart. “You mean I have to sit around and wait to find out what the hell is in there?!”

He sighed sadly, and she realized he probably heard some variation of those words at least once a day. “I know it seems cruel. But it’s the best way for us to find out what’s going on and what the next steps need to be, if any.”

He began to explain how to care for the aspiration site and the lump over the next few days while awaiting the results, but Penny wasn’t listening. She was far away, lost in a forest of confusion and fear, hoping that whatever the next steps were would lead her out of it.

* * *

“Well, Amy,” Sheldon began, “it is your turn to decide our activities for the evening. What am I going to endure this week?”

Every Thursday evening was Sheldon and Amy’s designated date night, and they alternated which of them got to pick the activities. When they first met, they did not have what could be called dates. More often than not, they visited each other’s labs and discussed their respective research Occasionally, they would eat lunch together. But as the months went on, Amy had requested not only that they label each other as “boyfriend” and “girlfriend,” but also that they regularly spend time together developing a romantic attachment. And apparently, the time spent together during work hours didn’t count. So, there he was, standing in his apartment preparing after-dinner tea while she sat on the couch, waiting for him to join her.

He suspected the change in Amy’s needs was due to Penny’s influence. Ever since Amy had determined Penny to be her best friend, she had begun to adopt some of Penny’s ideas of what a romantic relationship entailed. Sheldon resented it. He understood the science behind Amy’s desire to pair-bond, even if he did not understand the feeling himself. But why was it necessary to engage in the traditional notions of “dating?” The basis of their relationship was, after all, intellectual. Why was he required to spend a specific amount of time doing things he did not enjoy, just to satisfy an arbitrary rule that wasn’t even legally binding? It did not seem at all conducive to developing an organic partnership.

"Well, I’ve had a fairly difficult week at work, so I would like to stay in and watch a movie, if that’s okay with you,” Amy said.

“That would be acceptable,” he replied. “Did you have a movie in mind?”

“About that…I thought perhaps you would like to pick the movie.”

Sheldon stared at her from the kitchen. “But it’s your week to choose our activities.”

Amy took a deep breath. “Sheldon, come over here.”

He picked up both their mugs and came to sit next to her. “It’s your week to choose our activities,” he repeated.

“I realize that,” Amy said, “but I’d like to try something different this week. I’d like to compromise.”

“What do you mean?”

She pushed her glasses up on her nose. “I’ve been thinking about it, and I think date night would be far more enjoyable for both of us if it isn’t just one of us picking the activities each week. For instance, this week, since I’ve requested to stay in and watch a movie, I thought it fair for you to choose the movie we watch.”

“But the Relationship Agreement outlines the parameters of date night,” he said, “and it specifically says that each week’s activities will be determined by—”

She sighed. “Sheldon, we wrote the Relationship Agreement. Surely, we can renegotiate the terms.” 

He was silent for a moment, which Amy took to be a good sign. While most people would take his silence as a lack of interest or even rudeness, she knew that it was an indication that he was thinking about the suggestion. People always thought Sheldon was thoughtless when, in fact, he thought carefully about everything. It was just that he couldn’t quite get the hang of not letting every one of those thoughts come out of his mouth.

“I suppose we could reopen negotiations on that matter,” he finally said. “What would you suggest?”

“Well, as I said, we could both have input into our date night activities. We could set limits and exclusions if you want. For instance, we agree that I will not pick any bird-related activities, owing to your ornithophobia.”

“I see,” he replied. “I believe we would also have to give notice of our proposed activities at least three days in advance, in order to avoid conflicts.”

“Conflicts?”

“Yes, conflicts. For instance, if you were to pick horseback riding, it would do no good for me to have selected scuba diving for the same week.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Would you ever suggest scuba diving?”

He gave her a look that was somewhere between amused and derisive. “Of course not. Being submerged in an ocean full of bacteria while wearing foam neoprene sounds almost as terrible as having to sit through another one of Penny’s plays.”

“Okay, so I’ll check that off my list of future suggestions,” she said. “So, would you be amenable to this proposal?”

“I would.” He hesitated. “But, as we have not put the terms in writing, I would feel uncomfortable with choosing the movie this time. So I will leave that to you.”

“All right. What about…Star Wars?”

He gaped at her. “But you hate Star Wars.”

He was right. She did hate Star Wars. But she had also been feeling slightly guilty for what she had told the girls over drinks the week before. True, she had been drinking, but that was no excuse, to her mind, for selling him out to her friends. "I don’t hate it,” she lied. “Maybe I just haven’t given it a chance.”

It was times like this that Sheldon wished he could read body language and intonation. He could hardly ever tell when anyone was lying to him, probably because he was so terrible at lying himself. But he had no reason to doubt Amy. She had never lied to him before, at least not to his knowledge.

“Very well,” he finally said, choosing not to argue further.

* * *

The next two hours confirmed two things for Amy: first, that she did indeed hate Star Wars, and second, that she wanted to kiss Sheldon again.

She had only managed one kiss in the six months they had been dating, and that had been a one-time, drunken event, after which she had proceeded to vomit into her sink. Not exactly a high bar to set for a second kiss, but yet here she was, months later, and it hadn’t happened again. 

Moreover, she had no idea how to _make_ it happen again. She knew what everyone thought: that she was the female version of Sheldon, without the need for physical affection. And maybe that had been true before she had started to become close to Bernadette and Penny, but having seen the way they interacted with their boyfriends, she began to want more from Sheldon. The trouble was, despite all the time she spent with her friends, she still couldn’t quite navigate her relationship the way they could theirs. 

The movie was nearly over, and they still sat with space between them, not even touching. Amy’s eyes wandered to Sheldon’s hands, which rested on his thighs. She always liked his hands, even if they were usually red and raw from frequent washing. There was nothing stopping her from reaching over and taking one of them in her own, nothing except her own fear. 

_This is silly,_ she thought. _He’s my boyfriend. I shouldn’t be afraid to hold his hand._ So she took a deep breath and put a hand on top of his. He flinched and didn’t look at her, but to her great surprise, he didn’t pull away, either. She took this as a positive sign; perhaps she was making more progress than she had originally thought. 

They sat that way until the credits had rolled—maybe fifteen minutes total—and when the screen reverted to the Blu-ray’s main menu, she thought for sure he would pull away. But to her amazement, he allowed her to keep her fingers entwined with his. Whether he hadn’t quite realized they were still touching or he enjoyed it, Amy couldn’t be sure.

“Did you enjoy the movie?” he suddenly asked, still not looking at her.

“I did,” she lied. “Did you?”

He furrowed his brow. “I always do.”

“Good, I’m glad.”

He hesitated. “Has—has this been an enjoyable date night for you?”

Surprised by his apparently concern for her happiness, she said, “It has, for the most part.”

Her response made him finally turn to her. “Your response would seem to indicate that there was an unenjoyable portion of the evening. What was the deficiency?”

She briefly debated whether she should press her luck and be honest about her desire for physical connection, and finally decided that one lie was enough for the evening. “Sheldon…in addition to the change in date planning, I would like to amend our Relationship Agreement to include physical intimacy.” 

Panic. That was the only way to describe the feeling in his chest at her last two words. He looked down at their hands, still joined. “I believe hand-holding constitutes physical intimacy.”

She didn’t say anything for a moment, but then shifted her body toward him. “I don’t recall the Relationship Agreement defining physical intimacy. In fact, I believe the contract only states that any and all physical contact requires consent of both parties. But it is silent as to what constitutes physical intimacy. I would like to amend it to clarify the terms.”

It greatly annoyed Sheldon when any of his agreements—the Roommate Agreement with Leonard or the Relationship Agreement with Amy—were used against him. He worked hard when drafting these types of contracts, selecting each word with purpose. How could he have overlooked such a critical definition? But if he had—and he did not believe Amy would lie about such a thing—then he did indeed need to negotiate terms.

“If,” he began, “I were to agree to this, what would be your proposed terms?”

She was honestly a bit surprised that he was willing to discuss this. “Well…” She thought carefully about the wording she wanted to use. “I propose that at some point during each date, we engage in one kiss.” She figured that would be a good jumping-off point.

This was, Sheldon knew, more of Penny’s influence. He was going to need to have a serious conversation with her. Amy would never have brought this up without encouragement. Still, he understood biological urges; he was simply more adept at controlling them than most other people.

“And what type of kiss do you propose?”

She did her best not to look away. “I would prefer…on the lips.”

He drew in a sharp breath and briefly closed his eyes. There was a tightness in his chest that he had not experienced in many years. He wasn’t at all comfortable with this idea, but he recalled the notion he’d had just after Leonard had left. If he wanted to maintain a relationship with Amy, he would eventually need to concede a physical relationship with her. It didn’t seem that he had much choice in the matter.

“Very well,” he said. “One kiss on the lips per date.”

Amy was so stunned by his acquiescence that, for a second, she couldn’t breathe. “Oh. Oh, all—all right.”

“All right,” he repeated.

They sat in silence again, neither of them looking at the other, until Amy said, “Do you think we could perform an experiment? Test the viability of the proposition?”

“Why would we need to do that?”

“Um…” She thought quickly. “I—well—it would seem like a waste of time to go about drafting an amendment to the Relationship Agreement if it turns out that we find this endeavor unsatisfactory.”

He considered her for a minute. She looked both apprehensive and exhilarated. Her brown eyes looked even darker and her skin glowed in the light from the television. Amy was not conventionally attractive—at least by society’s general standards of beauty—but occasionally, Sheldon found himself admiring her for more than her brain. Not sexually, of course; more like a painting one might admire in a museum. And although he wasn’t an experimental scientist, he felt he would be remiss if he made a conclusion without having all the variables.

“Very well,” he said again. He turned and looked expectantly into her eyes; as difficult as it was for him to make eye contact, that’s how intense his gaze was when he was able to do so. It would have been too intense for Amy if she had been able to focus on anything but making sure she didn’t pass out. She inched toward him and he reciprocated, until the space between them no longer existed. 

Blood pounded in Sheldon’s ears as he watched Amy purse her lips. He hesitated, but then realized he was only delaying the inevitable. He leaned in, tilting his head to the opposite side from hers. When he finally pressed his lips to hers, the first thing he noticed was that she had started using some sort of fruit-scented lip product. It was an odd, unnatural sensation, but not altogether unpleasant. This close to her, he could smell her tea tree oil shampoo, and although his eyes were closed, he knew her breathing had become more labored, simply by listening to her.

Since they were supposed to be conducting a simple experiment, Amy decided to add another variable. She took a risk and gently put a hand on his cheek. At her touch, his eyes flew open and all his mental notes were lost to him. He pulled away from her and tried to remind himself to breathe.

It was so quick that Amy didn’t have time to process what had just happened. She was more concerned with the flush of Sheldon’s face and the metaphorical flame that was slowly diminishing in his bright blue eyes. She bit her bottom lip, wondering whether he was turned off by her strawberry lip balm. It was the same kind Penny used, which, she had assured Amy, was a surefire way to make Sheldon want to keep kissing her. After all, it worked on Leonard. But now she was regretting the decision to use anything but Chapstick, because Sheldon looked frightfully pale.

“Sheldon…” She wanted to touch his arm, but given his reaction to touching his cheek, she didn’t dare risk it. “What’s wrong?”

He stood up and crossed the room, walking directly to the fridge for a bottle of water. “I’m—just thirsty.”

She could tell that he wasn’t telling her the truth, which was disturbing in and of itself. Sheldon was terrible at lying, and she had never known him to do it on purpose. He was usually _too_ honest. “Are you sure? You seem a little jumpy.”

He took a large gulp of water and closed his eyes, not wanting to look at her anymore. “It’s past my bedtime.”

She checked her watch. “It’s only nine o’clock.”

“And now that Leonard is not driving me to work, I have to awaken earlier to take the bus,” he replied tersely. “Maintaining circadian rhythms is important, especially during the winter, when it becomes dark so early.”

He was surprised at how easily the lies seemed to roll off his tongue. Clearly, kissing Amy had damaged something in his brain. Or, perhaps, it broke something that was already cracked. But between that and the string of falsehoods he’d just told, he felt something strange, something he hadn’t felt in over a decade.

He felt guilt.

Amy had been with Sheldon long enough to know when she’d hit a brick wall with him. Whatever it was that was bothering him, he wasn’t going to share with her at that moment. She only hoped that it wasn’t enough make him never want to kiss her again. “I’m going to go,” she said. “I hope you sleep well.”

He watched her gather her things and walk toward the door. Just before she opened it, he said, “Amy?”

She turned back around. “Yes?”

He made himself look her in the eyes again. “I—need more time. To analyze the data.”

It took her a moment to realize what he was talking about. She felt tension leave her shoulders, and pushed her hair behind her ear. “I understand. I’ll see you tomorrow at work.”

“Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

When he was alone again, he shut the television off and sat on the couch, in the darkness. When he was a child, he was afraid of the dark. He was afraid of most things, really, but the dark was particularly terrifying. He used to make his mother leave his drapes open so that he at least had the moonlight streaming in through the window. He wasn’t afraid of the dark anymore, but over the years, he had replaced that fear with what seemed like a hundred others. And now, he could add to that list, kissing his girlfriend.

He knew he was brilliant. He knew that his being in the world would lead to scientific discoveries hitherto unknown. And he certainly didn’t care what most people thought of him; worrying about things like that was a waste of precious time and mental energy. But even though he didn’t always pick up on social cues or understand human behavior, even he knew that you weren’t supposed to panic when you kissed the person with whom you were in a relationship.

Sheldon would never admit it to anyone—not even to himself, out loud—but sometimes, he didn’t like himself very much at all.

He looked at the clock on the microwave. It was nine thirty; almost his bedtime. He didn’t think he could sleep, though, not with the tightness in his chest. His first thought was that he might be having a heart attack, but he just had a checkup a couple weeks earlier, and was sure his doctor would have noticed any new, irregular heart rhythms. The only other explanation was anxiety, which seemed likely, considering the last few minutes of his date with Amy. 

There was only one person who would know what to do in this situation.

He threw open the door and crossed the darkened hallway, trying to measure his breaths so that he didn’t pass out.

 _Knock knock knock._ “Penny.” 

_Knock knock knock._ “Penny.”

 _Knock knock knock._ “Penny.”

He waited for a minute, expecting her to open her door and lean against it, giving him some odd greeting like, “What’s the gist, physicist?” But no answer came. He tried knocking again, louder and more forcefully.

 _Knock knock knock._ “Penny.”

 _Knock knock knock._ “Penny.”

 _Knock knock knock._ “Penny.”

He listened for footsteps from the other side of the door, but didn’t hear any. In fact, he didn’t hear anything; no inane reality TV show, no irritatingly bass-heavy music, no high-pitched rapid-fire chatter. He glanced at the bottom of the door and noticed there was no light coming from underneath it. This concerned him. Penny should have been home from work by then. She hadn’t said anything about working late. He thought about knocking again, but instead, he went back into his apartment, picked up his phone, and typed out a message, now anxious for an entirely different reason.

* * *

The darkness had nearly swallowed her, and Penny was fine with that.

After she had arrived home from the mammogram, she was more exhausted than ever, _and_ she was sore on top of it all. Even though the doctor had been as gentle as possible, all the poking and prodding—not to mention the fact that her breasts had been flattened into pancakes—had made it impossible for her to get comfortable. A hot bath and Tylenol hadn’t done much to alleviate the ache, so she decided to crawl into bed early and try to sleep away the pain.

She didn’t know how long she had been lying there, drifting in and out of consciousness, when she heard someone at the door.

 _Knock knock knock._ “Penny.”

 _Knock knock knock._ “Penny.”

 _Knock knock knock._ “Penny.”

She pulled the comforter up over her head, hoping to drown out the sound. She loved Sheldon, but she just couldn’t deal with him that night. “Please, go away…” she whispered.

For a moment, things were quiet and she thought he had gone. She thought about getting up to get a glass of water, when Sheldon repeated his attempt to get her attention. She rolled over carefully, trying not to bump her chest too much, and then heard him retreat into his own apartment.

 _Oh, thank God,_ she thought, beginning a descent back into sleep. Then, she heard a buzzing from her nightstand. _Ugh…why?_

She groped around for her phone and, after knocking over a box of tissues and what she thought was Leonard’s spare inhaler, managed to pull it under the covers with her. 

_As you were concerned about me when I was unresponsive,_ it read, _I believe I am required by the social contract to reciprocate. Please let me know when you arrive home._

Penny wondered whether she should respond, whether it would just invite more questions than she really wanted to answer. But even through her pain and exhaustion, she found his concern endearing. She would have felt guilty for letting him worry.

 _I’m home_ , she said, _but I have a horrible migraine. Can we talk tomorrow?_

A few seconds later, she got a response. _If you are suffering from a migraine, you should not be using your phone._

That, she did not feel the need to reply to. Her battery was running dangerously low anyway. She felt around the floor for the charger, but then remembered she’d moved it to the living room that morning. She certainly wasn’t about to get out of bed to get it, having finally found a comfortable position in which to lay. So she set her phone back on the nightstand, face down, hoping that her pain would also die overnight.


End file.
